New Zealander Pardoned In Thailand And Sent Home

[cdnvic]

Then we go to the next point, that 'legalisation would decrease demand'. i find this highly suspicious.

If this were true wouldn't alot less people be drinking alcohol?

[kmart]

Yes, Steve.

[Francis Maube]

Last post being a little too long to copy.

Indeed legalizing is a simplistic approach although pot should not be too much of a problem. I suspect the booze lobby might not like much. If people start growing their own stuff for next to nothing, they might think twice before spending money on booze. Having said that it is pretty easy to make your own wine or beer for a very reasonable cost.

On the subject of addiction and what cause it, there is room for several doctorates PHd and the rest, and we'll long be gone while people will still debate the subject.

I will venture to say that the most analyzed addiction is alcohol and yet the researchers cannot agree what is the root cause. Peripheral triggers such as family history, job pressure, lack of job etc are certainly contributing factors but not the root cause.

Whatever the chemical, getting high has something to do with escaping, at least momentarily, one surroundings, being social, physical, work if no other way can be found. Some people can get addicted at jogging or similar physical activity, by the natural chemicals released by their body under effort. It is a lot more healthy but can wreck havoc on your knees

[fruittbatt]

Don't we all have addictions to something or someone? Drugs, alcohol, sex, money, gambling, extreme sports, consuming/shopping, exercise/fitness, work, posting on TV, ego....in fact isn't just about every habit, innocuous or harmful, a form of "addiction"?

Why are we "addicted"? Because we are human and seek to escape everyday "reality" and "imperfection"????

I cannot draw a line between those whose problems we can label "workaholic"/ "drug addict" and everyone else in this world who seeks escape/ego boosts via any habitual activity.

Edited February 15, 2007 by fruittbatt

[Axel]

An interesting article is here:

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2328401,00.html

Basically, heroin addicts are treated for free, i.e. they do get their controlled shots, are kept off the streets and away from the criminal part.

The problem now comes from political interests. The previous (socialist) government had introduced and the present (conservative) rulers are against.

Victims for sure, will be the addicts.

[cdnvic]

I cannot draw a line between those whose problems we can label "workaholic"/ "drug addict" and everyone else in this world who seeks escape/ego boosts via any habitual activity.

Nobody gets aids stepping on a pen carelessly discarded by workaholic.

[Pink Mist]

as far as the kiwi goes, she was incredibly lucky to get the pardon as she did not deserve it, as if one plays that game and gets caught you must feed the tiger.

Of course, if they really had wanted to give her a punishment, they could have sent her to the 'open air prison' where Kiwis are given free room and board for as long as they wish to stay, also known as ..... Bondi :-)

you forgot to mention the dole, which the south pacific poms are very good at getting

[steveromagnino]

as far as the kiwi goes, she was incredibly lucky to get the pardon as she did not deserve it, as if one plays that game and gets caught you must feed the tiger.

Of course, if they really had wanted to give her a punishment, they could have sent her to the 'open air prison' where Kiwis are given free room and board for as long as they wish to stay, also known as ..... Bondi :-)

you forgot to mention the dole, which the south pacific poms are very good at getting

touche. That is why the room and board is free :-)

Don't forget though, the reciprocal rights, so it isn't just the 200,000 Kiwis that get a free ride thanks to the generosity of the Aussie Govt. AFAIK there are about 2000 Australians smart enough to escape their 'descended from convicts' PM and move to the intermittantly sunny/rainy/downright lousy weather shores of New Zealand then receive free room and board as they live in the mansion like Otahuhu or resort atmosphere of Avondale, all paid for through the kindness of Aunt Helen and her manly haircut.

So it isn't all one way

[kmart]

I sense someone may refer to the cricketing "underarm bowling" incident anytime soon...?

[Jeffery Stanthorpe]

Drug trafficers are all filthy

What is a dru g TRAFFICER ? Is it like a drug officer or something, anyway you shouldn't call them filthy, they are only doing their job !!! l

[Farma]

As I was reading this thread the local radio station had a bozo criminal story.

An American woman couldn't find anywhere to buy Ganja so she called the police to ask where she could buy some. The officer told her they had some in the police station lockup. She was arrested when she arrived at the police station asking to buy some.

Sorry I couldn't resist adding it.

[fruittbatt]

I cannot draw a line between those whose problems we can label "workaholic"/ "drug addict" and everyone else in this world who seeks escape/ego boosts via any habitual activity.

Nobody gets aids stepping on a pen carelessly discarded by workaholic.

No, but I'm told that one can get hearing aids by listening to a**holes.

[cdnvic]

I cannot draw a line between those whose problems we can label "workaholic"/ "drug addict" and everyone else in this world who seeks escape/ego boosts via any habitual activity.

Nobody gets aids stepping on a pen carelessly discarded by workaholic.

No, but I'm told that one can get hearing aids by listening to a**holes.

Better learn to sign then.

[Pink Mist]

as far as the kiwi goes, she was incredibly lucky to get the pardon as she did not deserve it, as if one plays that game and gets caught you must feed the tiger.

Of course, if they really had wanted to give her a punishment, they could have sent her to the 'open air prison' where Kiwis are given free room and board for as long as they wish to stay, also known as ..... Bondi :-)

you forgot to mention the dole, which the south pacific poms are very good at getting

touche. That is why the room and board is free :-)

Don't forget though, the reciprocal rights, so it isn't just the 200,000 Kiwis that get a free ride thanks to the generosity of the Aussie Govt. AFAIK there are about 2000 Australians smart enough to escape their 'descended from convicts' PM and move to the intermittantly sunny/rainy/downright lousy weather shores of New Zealand then receive free room and board as they live in the mansion like Otahuhu or resort atmosphere of Avondale, all paid for through the kindness of Aunt Helen and her manly haircut.

So it isn't all one way

Ota 2 hu or avondale mansion areas for sure, go across the motorway from otahu to the affluent Otara region, they love to live there

[Jeffery Stanthorpe]

I cannot draw a line between those whose problems we can label "workaholic"/ "drug addict" and everyone else in this world who seeks escape/ego boosts via any habitual activity.

Nobody gets aids stepping on a pen carelessly discarded by workaholic.

No, but I'm told that one can get hearing aids by listening to a**holes.

maybe that is why the kids take drugs, if their parents are workaholics and neglect them and don't tell them "drugs are bad !!"

now that is food for thought

[the gent]

At the risk of incurring the righteous wrath of the hang 'em high brigade, may I point out the fact that heroin per se is not a partricularly dangerous drug nor is it likely to kill you any more than an addiction to alcohol might. The problems arise when the addict injects a dose of unknown strength in circumstances other than the sterile. Coupled with the vagaries in supply and cost dictated by prohibition it is unsurprising that demand leads to social problems.

Legalisation is the only sensible solution and would prevent hundreds of deaths and deny organised crime their main source of revenue.

Unfortunately, politicians are hostage to fortunes dictated by electorates ill equipped to comprehend much beyond their own narrow prejudices as exampled by many of the witless posts in this thread and therefore fundamental change in the status quo is unlikely. The insight provided by one poster who suggests that a life sentence with hard labour was somehow more just than extra judicial murder was particularly illuminating of the level of current debate.

Bring back Devil's Island is wot I say, and cut their goolies orf wiv a rusty blade while yer at it! You never knows, the barstewards might all be kiddy fiddlers 'n all. Stands to bleedin' reason, dont it?

[BigSnake]

Lucky lady

[steveromagnino]

At the risk of incurring the righteous wrath of the hang 'em high brigade, may I point out the fact that heroin per se is not a partricularly dangerous drug nor is it likely to kill you any more than an addiction to alcohol might. The problems arise when the addict injects a dose of unknown strength in circumstances other than the sterile. Coupled with the vagaries in supply and cost dictated by prohibition it is unsurprising that demand leads to social problems.

Legalisation is the only sensible solution and would prevent hundreds of deaths and deny organised crime their main source of revenue.

Yes i had heard that heroin is not that bad healthwise and that Keith Richards is proof of that. Of course, the overriding desire to get a fix makes many heroin addicts not exactly constructive members of society; if we legalise it and then sell it for say, $50 a hit, what happens when all the addicts who don't work, don't have money and are willing to do anything to get a now legal hit decide that they will go and rob someone to get the dough? I hope you are not suggesting that the money collected from tax from people who actually do work should fund their lifestyles.

I still don't buy the crime source of revenue point. I thought my prostitution since it was legalised case study in NZ would have proved that the criminals are quite happy, legal or illegal; who is going to set up a nice little heroin smack shop in Wainuiamata for their community to make a nice little profit; it just isn't the type of business most sane people/people with ethics/morales/reputation would want to touch. Teh DVD Porn industry in USA is legal and yet underneath, ask around and you'll find some much dirt around as to where they get funding/how they do business/the consequences.

Point taken on heroin health, but I am still not convinced that legalising will do all the things that pro-legalisers claim. At least we aren't in the 'well they legalised fags and booze, and those are much worse' kindergarden reasoning

[JacknDanny]

I cannot draw a line between those whose problems we can label "workaholic"/ "drug addict" and everyone else in this world who seeks escape/ego boosts via any habitual activity.

Nobody gets aids stepping on a pen carelessly discarded by workaholic.

cdnvic.

You will get nowhere keep making sensible remarks.

Unfortunately these junkie lovers and liberally minded morons do not or cannot use the brain cells they were born with.

I try to stay away from these threads as a likely ban would occur if I REALLY said what I thought

[fruittbatt]

cdnvic.

You will get nowhere keep making sensible remarks.

Unfortunately these junkie lovers and liberally minded morons do not or cannot use the brain cells they were born with.

I try to stay away from these threads as a likely ban would occur if I REALLY said what I thought

Oh, don't hold back. I'm sure we'd all love to hear your views as well as your insults. Surely having the courage to voice your convictions (no pun intended) is worth it even you ARE banned

Edited February 16, 2007 by fruittbatt

[Donnyboy]

as far as the kiwi goes, she was incredibly lucky to get the pardon as she did not deserve it, as if one plays that game and gets caught you must feed the tiger.

Of course, if they really had wanted to give her a punishment, they could have sent her to the 'open air prison' where Kiwis are given free room and board for as long as they wish to stay, also known as ..... Bondi :-)

you forgot to mention the dole, which the south pacific poms are very good at getting

touche. That is why the room and board is free :-)

Don't forget though, the reciprocal rights, so it isn't just the 200,000 Kiwis that get a free ride thanks to the generosity of the Aussie Govt. AFAIK there are about 2000 Australians smart enough to escape their 'descended from convicts' PM and move to the intermittantly sunny/rainy/downright lousy weather shores of New Zealand then receive free room and board as they live in the mansion like Otahuhu or resort atmosphere of Avondale, all paid for through the kindness of Aunt Helen and her manly haircut.So it isn't all one way

Im sure Aunty Helens a katoey- its the deep voice that gives it away.

[sriracha john]

UPDATE

Heroin smuggler thought she'd die in jail

When a Wainuiomata grandmother was sentenced to 50 years in the "Bangkok Hilton" jail for trying to smuggle $4 million (94.15 million Baht) worth of heroin out of Thailand, she thought she would be dead inside six months.

But Phyllis Tarawhiti, now 50, survived 11 years in the notorious prison to earn a pardon from the Thai king and return home to New Zealand.

Speaking to Mana magazine from her father's home in Auckland, the mother of three said she was less anxious standing in the dock in the Thai criminal court in 1996 than when she faced a speeding fine in New Zealand.

"I wasn't nervous because I already knew my sentence. I was relieved when they went like death, life, 50, because I knew I had two more chances.

"What I did was wrong. I did wrong in a land that was not mine and I knew that I had to pay the price. But it didn't mean to say I wouldn't fight to try and get a better deal."

At her trial, Ms Tarawhiti said she had fallen into drug smuggling when her relationship broke up and she feared she would lose her home.

Aside from the speeding fine, her only other previous contact with the law was for growing six marijuana plants.

She had been in Thailand for a week before she was arrested at Bangkok's Don Muang Airport in 1995 with 250 grams of heroin strapped to her body.

Because of her guilty plea, her death sentence was commuted to 50 years in Lad Yao Women's Prison, and was later reduced to 35 years on appeal.

Once she acclimatised to the harshness of life in the prison – where inmates have to buy their own toilet paper, soap, pillows, and uniform – the first half of her sentence drifted by.

Life got harder around the nine- year mark, after a visit from her daughter, till she had an epiphany, she told Mana.

"One day it's raining and I'm just tired of having to lift all our things and put them away and stand there with water up to my knees. The water's full of s . . . by the way, because there's an open sewer around the prison and the place floods so easily that when the monsoon rain comes all the s . . . comes floating in. Even the rats were swimming in the water because they'd been flushed out of their holes.

"You're standing in s . . . water and you're thinking, 'I'm tired of this'. And you think, 'How the hel_l did I put up with this for nine years?' And I was just blown away that I'd been living like this and that I'd put up with it for nine years, and I gave myself a pat on the back. Somehow you survive."

She thanked the New Zealand embassy staff for their compassion and the commitment they showed to securing her royal pardon.

- The Dominion Post (New Zealand)

[skiman1]

I agree these people should not be allowed to spread their poison around, hanging is too good for them - I bet the New Zealand authorities are happy she is coming back!

[skiman1]

Good luck on the old dear.

The throw away the key brigade will start posting soon no doubt.....

So they should what a ridiculous statement - I hope none of the filth the old hag was selling ever impacts any of your families life.

[Maigo6]

And the Alcohol that is sold and affects hundreds of Millions of households daily worldwide, is that OK ?

[rogerman]

she's a maori.....of course she got off....all maoris get everything they want....even the airwaves lol

[Dupont]

And the Alcohol that is sold and affects hundreds of Millions of households daily worldwide, is that OK ?

Yes it is, because society has its norms, Alcohol isn't illegal, and bores like you are barking up the wrong tree whining on about it.

Put your oh so clever intelectual snide one liners into some sort of policy, get alcohol banned, then society will lock up people for this. Alcohol only kills more people, because it is thousands of times more available and used much much more that heroin.

I've watched people throughout my life get hooked on this shit, and peddlers should get death. Many of their customers do, and their families have years and years of crap, lies, theft, hospital and Dr visits, tearing their hair out to no avail.

You want to put up an arguement for heroin, you do it.

[Maigo6]

And the Alcohol that is sold and affects hundreds of Millions of households daily worldwide, is that OK ?

Yes it is, because society has its norms, Alcohol isn't illegal, and bores like you are barking up the wrong tree whining on about it.

Put your oh so clever intelectual snide one liners into some sort of policy, get alcohol banned, then society will lock up people for this. Alcohol only kills more people, because it is thousands of times more available and used much much more that heroin.

I've watched people throughout my life get hooked on this shit, and peddlers should get death. Many of their customers do, and their families have years and years of crap, lies, theft, hospital and Dr visits, tearing their hair out to no avail.

You want to put up an arguement for heroin, you do it.

You need some Valium.

[sriracha john]

....all maoris get everything they want....

They must "want" bigoted people then...

[Laulen]

What has happened, has happened.

There's nowt that anyone here can do about it!

Let us hope that Phyllis Tarawhiti spends the rest of her life wisely!