HOW can a push to legalise illicit drugs help the ever-increasing drug problem in Australia?
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It may free-up the justice system as there are a growing number of people fronting court on drug charges.
However, it may also exacerbate the problem of people having all too ready access to drugs.
Yesterday, the federal government said it was open to talks on a new way of tackling illegal drug use, but warned there was a high threshold of community resistance to easing existing criminal laws.
A report released yesterday by Australia21 said the war on drugs had been lost, coming to the conclusion that the tough law and order approach was doing more harm than good. However, the report, written by a group comprising federal law enforcement officers, health ministers and premiers, including former New South Wales premier and now Foreign Minister Bob Carr, stops short of directly backing decriminalisation. The report urges politicians to look at a massive rethink to tackle the illegal drug trade.
In response, Attorney-General Nicola Roxon said there was not a lot of evidence that decriminalising drugs would improve the situation.
“The fact that we have challenges in being able to stop illicit drugs doesn’t necessarily mean that deregulating it entirely and making them legal is going to prove the right solution,” Ms Roxon said.
Senator Carr says he supports “a bit of modest decriminalisation” to free up police time.
“As premier I sponsored a medically-supervised injecting room so people who are hooked on this wretched, addictive white powder . . . would have a chance,” he said.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said she did not support decriminalisation. “Drugs kill people, they rip families apart, they destroy lives and we want to see less harm done by drug usage,” she said.
“We want to make sure we are supporting people to get treatment options and we are getting our police to do what they rightly should be doing which is policing our laws on drugs.”
While some people may think that punishments for drug-related crimes in places like Thailand are excessive, tougher penalties seem to be acting as a deterrent in those countries.
Rather than decriminalising drugs, maybe its time our law-makers get tougher on the law-breakers.