"Study: Australia tops in marijuana use" January 07, 2012
SYDNEY - A study published yesterday in a British medical journal may have finally uncovered the secret behind Australia’s laid-back lifestyle, and it turns out to be more than just sun and surf: The denizens Down Under consume more marijuana than any other people on the planet.
The study, an analysis of global trends in illegal drugs and their effect on public health, found that Australia and New Zealand topped the list globally for consumption of both marijuana and amphetamines, a category of drugs whose use the study found to be growing rapidly around the world....
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"Memos detail Australia forces’ misconduct" January 14, 2012
SYDNEY - Australia’s scandal-plagued armed forces were dealing with fallout yesterday from another round of embarrassing revelations over the behavior of some of their personnel, after a television network released a trove of internal military memos describing incidents of sexual assault, possession of child pornography, and drug use, among other misconduct.
The release of the documents Thursday by the Channel Seven News network, which obtained them through a freedom of information request, comes on the heels of other scandals involving the Australian Defense Force....
Their release put Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s government and the military leadership on the defensive and drew considerable attention from the news media yesterday....
The newly released documents are internal memos called “Hot Issue Briefs,’’ and apparently intended to document incidents of misconduct and offer guidance to officers on handling them, including from a public relations perspective.
Among the hundreds of pages of material, the navy stands out for the sheer volume of incidents, many of them involving heavy drinking, violence, and sexually aggressive behavior.
Maybe they should smoke a joint.
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