Time for Australia to abandon "failed war on drugs"

[chnt]

Time for Australia to abandon "failed war on drugs"

Australia must abandon its failed war on drugs and reopen the debate over legalising and regulating their use, according to a report to be released tomorrow.

The report, emotively titled “The prohibition of illicit drugs is killing and criminalising our children and we are letting it happen”, is the work of non-profit body Australia 21 and based on a round-table discussion attended by former premiers and health ministers, and a former police commissioner, among other high-profile figures.

Founder of Australia 21 and report co-author Bob Douglas, a former President of The Public Health Association of Australia, said the war on drugs was “conceptually unsound. The Prohibition didn’t work for alcohol, and [the prohibition on drugs] essentially passes the control and the distribution and the promotion of drugs to criminal gangs. It’s not worked anywhere in the world.

“The drug market will always be able to outbid law enforcement.”

The round-table discussion was a response to a Global Commission on Drug Policy report last year that declared the 40-year war on drugs launched by US President Richard Nixon a comprehensive failure.

The commission said that between 1998 and 2008, consumption of opiates had increased worldwide by 34.5%, consumption of cocaine by 27% and consumption of cannabis by 8.5%.

The toll of the ongoing crackdown on drugs in Australia was “400 deaths a year – that’s more than a death a day,” Professor Douglas said. “Our prisons are chockablock with people with drug problems, and we’re making criminals of our kids.”

He stressed the Australia 21 report did not advocate a solution. “We’re advocating a debate.” Possibilities to be considered in that debate “range from decriminalisation to legalisation and control … what do we do with nicotine and alcohol?

“The evidence does not suggest we’re doing the country a service by criminalising its use and the whole process. The prohibition process has exacerbated rather than helped with the problem.”

In 1997, as part of a team at the Australian National University, Professor Douglas proposed that Australia be the first country to evaluate the use of heroin treatment for addicts in a controlled, medically supervised trial. The Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy endorsed the push. But Australia came under heavy pressure from the US not to go ahead with it, he said.

“That was a landmark moment when [then Prime Minister] John Howard declared a tough-on-drugs policy and said this [proposed trial] was sending the wrong message.”

Michael Wooldridge, who served as a health minister in the Howard Government, said in the report that “the key message is that we have 40 years of experience of a law and order approach to drugs, and it has failed.”

Former NSW Director of Public Prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery said he was “strongly in favour of legalising, regulating, controlling and taxing all drugs. A first step towards such a regime could be decriminalisation, similar to the approach adopted 10 years ago in Portugal or an adaptation of that approach.”

Portugal controversially decriminalised the use and possession of all drugs in 2001. A study published in 2010 in the British Journal of Criminology found that although there had been a slight increase in drug use among adults since the change, there had also been a decline in teen drug use, HIV infections and AIDS cases. Drug seizures by police had increased.

 

[Halcyon Daze]

I'm liking what I see.

http://www.theage.co...0402-1w8vg.html

People who say Labor and LNP are the same are totally wrong IMO. This is something the Libs would never do. Infact I expect they will pull it all down like all the solar and wind projects.

I can't see this going too far though. It will need a big push from the public, and you know what most aussies are like. Can't get off their asses for anything these days.

Edited April 2, 2012 by Halcyon Daze

[chnt]

or instead of a couple of articles here and there about branson wanting an end to the WOD, and a sentence or 2 of dick smith agreeing with his friend branson, how about a huge media campaign led and funded by these guys, it's not like they're struggling financially... the public needs the media to tell it what to do, the key is controlling the media.

[chnt]

i enjoyed reading this comment from someone who's avatar is strangely familiar.

. (from the OP link)

Some simple facts:

One day soon, Joe Biden, and the rest of the so called 'drug warriors', will all stand trial as drug war criminals.

* Colombia, Peru, Mexico or Afghanistan with their coca leaves, marijuana buds or poppy sap are not igniting temptation in the minds of our weak, innocent citizens. These countries are duly responding to the enormous demand that comes from within our own borders. Invading or destroying these countries, thus creating more hate, violence, instability, injustice and corruption, will not fix our problem.

* A rather large majority of people will always feel the need to use drugs such as heroin, opium, nicotine, amphetamines, alcohol, sugar, or caffeine.

* The massive majority of adults who use drugs do so recreationally - getting high at the weekend then up for work on a Monday morning.

* Apart from the huge percentage of people addicted to both sugar and caffeine, a small minority of adults (nearly 5%) will always experience the use of drugs as problematic. - approx. 3% are dependent on alcohol and approx. 1.5% are dependent on other drugs such as methamphetamine, cocaine, heroine etc.

* Just as it was impossible to prevent alcohol from being produced and used in the U.S. in the 1920s, so too, it is equally impossible to prevent any of the aforementioned drugs from being produced, distributed and widely used by those who desire to do so.

* Prohibition kills more people and ruins more lives than the drugs it prohibits.

* Due to Prohibition (historically proven to be an utter failure at every level), the availability of most of these mood-altering drugs has become so universal and unfettered that in any city of the civilized world, any one of us would be able to procure practically any drug we wish within an hour.

* Throughout history, the prohibition of any mind-altering substance has always exploded usage rates, overcrowded jails, fueled organized crime, created rampant corruption of law-enforcement - even whole governments, while inducing an incalculable amount of suffering and death.

* Apart from the fact that the DEA is the de facto enforcement wing of the pharmaceutical industry, the involvement of the CIA in running Heroin from Vietnam, Southeast Asia and Afghanistan, and Cocaine from Central America has been well documented by the 1989 Kerry Committee report, academic researchers Alfred McCoy and Peter Dale Scott, and the late journalist Gary Webb.

* It's not even possible to keep drugs out of prisons, but prohibitionists wish to waste trillions of dollars in an utterly futile attempt to keep them off our streets.

* The United States jails a larger percentage of it's own citizens than any other country in the world, including those run by the worst totalitarian regimes, yet it has far higher use/addiction rates than most other countries.

* Prohibition is the "Goose that laid the golden egg" and the lifeblood of terrorists as well as drug cartels. Both the Taliban and the terrorists of al Qaeda derive their main income from the prohibition-inflated value of the opium poppy. An estimated 44 % of the heroin produced in Afghanistan, with an estimated annual destination value of US $ 27 Billion, transits through Pakistan. Prohibition has essentially destroyed Pakistan's legal economy and social fabric. We may be about to witness the planet's first civil war in a nation with nuclear capabilities. - Kindly Google 'A GLOBAL OVERVIEW OF NARCOTICS-FUNDED TERRORIST GROUPS' Only those opposed or willing to ignore these facts want things the way they are.

* The future depends on whether or not enough of us are willing to take a long look at the tragic results of prohibition. If we continue to skirt the primary issue while refusing to address the root problem then we can expect no other result than a worsening of the current dire situation. - Good intentions, wishful thinking and pseudoscience are no match for the immutable realities of human nature.

* Many important advancements in human society (even the reasonable requirement that gynecologists wash their hands before examining a patient) have been vehemently resisted by unconscionable, selfish individuals who were willing to use outright mendacity, specious logic and fear mongering to sacrifice the well-being of the rest of us.

Never have so many been endangered and impoverished by so few so quickly!

* The urge to save humanity is almost always a false-face for the urge to rule it. - H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American editor, essayist and philologist.

 

[Psylo]

Thanks for the article links.It is amazing to read former NSW Premier Bob Carr's opinion on sniffer dogs at railway stations during his tenure, and calling weed use a victimless crime. When a conservative politician puts himself on the line with such a statement, it can only be positive.

Here is the exerp - for those unfamiliar with Sydney, the south west suburb of Cabramatta was "Heroin Central" for many years.

It has the support of new Foreign Minister, Bob Carr, who wrote: “An issue that worried me while I was in NSW politics was the police hitting railway stations with sniffer dogs. It was marijuana that was the focus. I did not think it was the best use of police time. People were breaking no other laws. This was victimless crime and this was seen as a new way to engage police resources. I wanted them to do things like make public transport safe and clean up Cabramatta.”

[qualia]

this appears to be getting quite a run on abc news 24 this morning. still what i seem to be hearing though is only "lets have a debate", not "let's take action". i do concede that a debate is long overdue in the mainstream, i think it'll just amount to hot air in the short term. certainly with the very strong possibility of the religious right taking office in canberra, there won't be action in the foreseeable future.

[Amazonian]

Former NSW Director of Public Prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery said he was “strongly in favour of legalising, regulating, controlling and taxing all drugs.

Taxing all drugs.... Does that mean you would be able to buy a tab of 'cid for $50 at the local milk bar ?

[Distracted]

for $50 it better be fucking good.

I think we need to increase the penalties of drug abusers and simple possession charges. Obviously the previous punishments aren't working and punishment is the only thing these deviants can understand. Education doesn't work as our fear based leaflets and advertising barely has any impact.

[qualia]

for $50 it better be fucking good.

I think we need to increase the penalties of drug abusers and simple possession charges. Obviously the previous punishments aren't working and punishment is the only thing these deviants can understand. Education doesn't work as our fear based leaflets and advertising barely has any impact.

 

further to this i think they should reintroduce corporal punishment. people might find it harder to light up a bong with no hands.

[ayjay101]

This was menitoned on TripleJ news this morning as well

While I take heart from such news articles, I can't help it think such proposals will be laughed out of the room by mainstream, current lawmakers and the uninitiated general public

Edited April 2, 2012 by ayjay101

[Shamanistic]

I will goto any debate to fight for my right to practice my spiritual practice. Qualia, I also noticed that there is no talk about action just yet only debate but I feel the debate has to take place before action will be effective. As is pointed out in that article - politicians see drug decriminalization as career suicide. At least if a debate takes place and the media doesn't skew the results the politicians may see it as the only way forward, one can only hope right?

[Distracted]

further to this i think they should reintroduce corporal punishment. people might find it harder to light up a bong with no hands.

 

Anyone caught in the war on drugs should be kept and treated like a POW and tried in a military court.

I'm deadly fucking serious on that one though, no trolling... if they're gonna call it a war and gear up police with military grade equipment and use military tactics they should be treating any prisoners captured in the appropriate ways.

[qualia]

I will goto any debate to fight for my right to practice my spiritual practice. Qualia, I also noticed that there is no talk about action just yet only debate but I feel the debate has to take place before action will be effective. As is pointed out in that article - politicians see drug decriminalization as career suicide. At least if a debate takes place and the media doesn't skew the results the politicians may see it as the only way forward, one can only hope right?

 

sure, i'm not criticising the debate itself, by all means it needs to happen and it needs to be given light in the mainstream. bt haven't we been having this debate for some years? there comes a time when posturing needs to be turned into action. i think that time has more than come, but i also acknowledge that action won't come. given that same-sex marriage receives widespread public support but retains opposition in conservative governments (both major parties imo) due to purely ideological reasons, something such as legalisation/decriminalisation of some drugs (which i assume has less public support) will barely rate any mention other than "we welcome debate", which is government speak for "we don't give a shit what you think".

[qualia]

has there been such prominent public figures come out in group support before like this?

[Marcel]

Let us not forget that decriminalisation happened in Portugal, which is an intensely religious and politically conservative country. If it can happen there, it could very well happen anywhere.

[dionysus]

^ not to forget about also, portugals drug use statistics have improved since their shift from punishment to help

[carlturney]

Hi,

Please check out a new thread I just created relevant to this topic. It's in the Chill section because I thought that was where it was supposed to be posted.

Title is something like "Solution to 40 years of drug law reform failures".

Thanks,

Carl Turney

Master of Arts, in Public Policy

Honours, in Commerce

Co-founder of Mini Ethnobotanica Victoria (direct predecessor to Entheogenesis Australis)

Former State Coordinator of NORML for West Australia and Oregon

[SunChaser]

Let us not forget that decriminalisation happened in Portugal, which is an intensely religious and politically conservative country. If it can happen there, it could very well happen anywhere.

 

I’m fairly sure Portugal had an extremely violent drug trade and devastating poverty & addiction issues that are non-existent in Australia. So what the Portugal government did might not really be relevant to us.

Anyway, an old and predictable knee jerk reaction from our prime minister, basically about what I expected.

Ms Gillard said she was not in favour of decriminalisation: "My view about drugs is clear. Drugs kill people they rip families apart, they destroy lives and we want to see less harm done through drug usage," the Prime Minister said.

''I am not in favour of decriminalisation of any of our drug laws. We want to keep supporting people who need our help to break out of a cycle of addiction and we need to keep policing so we are tackling those who are seeking to make a profit out of what really is a trade in incredible misery.''

 

http://m.smh.com.au/...0403-1w9iz.html

[Marcel]

It seems like this debate will always stall for as long as a useless term like "illegal drugs" is used. Lumping ayahuasca and mushrooms and meth and heroin all together is a huge difficulty in having these discussions progress beyond emotions and voter-fear. In one sense, Gillard is right; there are drugs that can kill people and rip families apart and cause addiction. The fact is, not all "drugs" do this, but when it's stated in such black and white terms, it'd be hard to convince the average voter that they ("illegal drugs") should be decriminalised, no matter who's endorsing it and how many statistics and case-studies they can present.

[applesnail]

i think gillard would blow the whole of parliament house if 1/4 ounce of peruvian flake was thrown in to her lap!

[chnt]

she said herself she wants this "we want to see less harm done through drug usage", ie she wants harm minimisation, why cant they get the fucking hint, if they really did want harm minimisation, take a look at the large body of evidence to suggest that prohibition does not lead to harm minimisation...

and with harm minimisation in mind, an argument could be made that it is more important to legalise/regulate the most harmful/addictive "drugs", why is it so hard for people to see? and then people like bob carr saying decrim softer "drugs", he's open to the idea that "drugs" shouldn't inherently be illegal, but why is he still so short sighted?

there are so many angles to this, and yes it is highly important to actually make distinctions about different kinds of drugs and how they differ, rather than having such a convoluted blanket term.

i just dont get how intelligent people cant be open to reason and logic with this issue.

edit: changed can to cant to make sentence make sense...

Edited April 3, 2012 by chnt

[qualia]

well, it's got the whole of mainstream media talking about it, and the views are by and large positive. so in that regard i think it's a great success.

[chnt]

hopefully this noise doesn't peak and die out though, hopefully this kicks up a media storm and heaps of well known names jump on board, i can think of dick smith who supported richard branson's call for ending the WOD, the people in the iq(squared) debate namely wendy harmer, the hungry beast team and i'm sure there are many other names that would agree with the notion...

this is definitely a success in a way, but it's just a very small start... i really hope it gets bigger.

edit: WOR = WOD (war on drugs)

Edited April 3, 2012 by chnt

[qualia]

hopefully this noise doesn't peak and die out though,

nah, tomorrow it'll be back to "juliar" and watermelons, *sigh*

[chnt]

so lame...