The Father Bob Show #023 - Let’s talk about drugs
The Father Bob Show #023 (MP3 - 12MB - 33min)
I knew that would get your attention… Today on the show we have special guest Richard from Open Family. Richard has been a community worker for many years in Melbourne and talks to us about the drug “problem” in society today. We talk about
- the current heroin shortage
- the current trend of people mixing over-the-counter medicines with heroin
- what crystal meth aka “ice” is and why it is worse than heroin
- whether or not so-called “illicit” drugs should be legalized
We didn’t get to cover it on the show, but we’ve made some progress with the idea (as discussed last week) of using an SMS service to raise funds for the Father Bob Maguire Foundation - more on that next week after we meet with Informatel.
Thanks to the people who put their hand up after last week’s show offering help. We still need more people so if you have skills which could help Bob and I re-invent social capitalism in Australia, send Cam an email and tell him what skills you have to offer. We’re still looking for someone with stencil art skills to make us up a template which can be printed out and spray painted on the walls of Australia.
If you want to show your support for The Father Bob Show, don’t forget to VOTE and, more importantly, donate $1 a week to The Father Bob Maguire Foundation by throwing a buck in his PayPal account.
You can also leave us an audio comment or question by clicking here.
April 27th, 2006 at 9:37 pm
Hey guys, just wondering what the story is with the PayPal. Do you know exactly how much is taken by PayPal? Also does $1 a week add up over the year for tax deductions? Good to see the Social Capitalist Show is up & running. I’ll listen to it tomorrow. Cheers, Nathan.
April 27th, 2006 at 10:08 pm
Hey Nathan, they take a few cents I think. And I’m not sure how the tax deduction thing works - I think you can add all of your charity contributions over the course of a year, but you better check with your accountant.
April 29th, 2006 at 12:19 am
The last five minutes of my download were cut off. Either way I felt that this episode of the Father Bob Show didn’t feature that much Father Bob at all.
April 29th, 2006 at 9:39 am
Hey Daniel, sorry your show got cut off. And you’re right, not much of Bob talking this week, he preferred to have Richard do the talking. You didn’t like what Richard had to say?
April 29th, 2006 at 9:49 am
daniel,sorry about that.richard blew in just as cameron and i were settling down to record.he’s just so knowledgeable about drugs and harm minimisation that i didn’t want to miss the chance for you guys to hear him.i should’ve got cameron and he to make a subsequent engagement.subscribers need to receive the product for which they pay.bobmaguire.
May 2nd, 2006 at 5:47 pm
Hey Cam and Bob,
Very interesting podcast.
Very interesting comment also: “subscribers need to receive the product for which they pay”. Bugger us. Unless your wasting our time with long adverts than there’s no problem having a guest every now and then.
Anyway, Cam, did you end up setting up that meeting with JJJ for Bob? Anymore ideas as far as the charity auction? I am really keen to get something up and going but am stuck in limbo at the moment waiting on which way to proceed and how it should be done.
Liam
May 2nd, 2006 at 6:02 pm
Hey guys, great show again. Really informative, I learned alot about drugs that I didn’t know. I was interested in hearing Richard’s perspective on things. Keep the shows coming guys. Cheers, Nathan.
May 2nd, 2006 at 6:42 pm
Liam, Nathan, thanks for the continued support, glad you enjoyed the show. Liam, apparently Triple J won’t let Bob spruik his plans on the show. We’re trying to figure out how to fight the decision. Met today with a guy from Informatel to look into using SMS to raise funds, but very concerned to find out that between Informatel and the Telco they will take 60% off the top of every dollar donated.
May 3rd, 2006 at 8:57 pm
I would have thought JJJ and Bob had the same market demographic. If JJJ are not able to support him, then the relationship is fundamentally exploitative. They use his name to attain market share, while giving ‘nothing’ in return. Suggests that their ‘youth radio’ image is purely a marketing gimmick, without any genuine desire to be responsive to youth in crisis. Interesting
May 3rd, 2006 at 9:08 pm
I feel exactly the same way LIndsey. I think their line at the moment is that they are the ABC and the ABC doesn’t allow “advertising”… but that doesn’t stop guests on Safran’s show spruiking their wares, nor does it stop Safran himself spruiking “God Vs Safran”, so I don’t know why Fr Bob should be singled out. I’m going to help him fight it.
May 4th, 2006 at 5:26 am
Informatel.
I once worked for a well known national charity org, from which I later resigned from on principle. They agressively fundraised in the larger cities and small regional towns, even remote aboriginal communities. Funds raised locally when into the national coffers.
When the figures were looked at more closely though, less than 5% actually went back to help support local projects. In smaller communities, the figures were more like 0% to 2%. The rest was chewed up on high corporate salaries, late model company cars and the like. Nobody minds ‘paying the piper’ his fair due, but…..
If a greater share of funds raised locally could be spent locally, with only a reasonable ‘overhead’ being skimmed, communities would be much better serviced.
Currently, charitable organisations are big business, very corporatised in structure, internal profit provisioning and non-disclosure ethics. ‘Supersize me’. Thus the true potential value of social captial is significantly eroded and minimised.
(Sorry, this was probably more suited for your Social Capitalist page.)
May 4th, 2006 at 10:11 am
lindsey, god,you’re so right.i just want to propose a social activist alternative to the lazy NGO/NFP model which has evolved over the past 30 years.We haven’t a moment to lose!bobmaguire.
May 4th, 2006 at 2:34 pm
Lindsey, we’re completely with you on that point. We need to de-corporatize “charity”. I want to see more viable options for people to “get involved” in their local community on a volunteer basis, loosely coupled, low overhead. We need to use the net to decentralize. Loose, fast, light weight.
May 6th, 2006 at 5:46 am
Hey Father Bob and Cameron,
Ex pat Aussie here listening from London. I love to hear your podcasts and am an avid listener of the Sunday night Safran show. I’m a mature student studying counselling, maybe I can offer my skills when I graduate and return to Australia one day.
Keep up the fine work.
Fen