Pubdate: Mon, 03 Dec 2001 Source: West Australian (Australia) Copyright: 2001 West Australian Newspapers Limited Contact: http://www.thewest.com.au Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/495 Author: P. A. Money DRUG USE WILL NOW INCREASE THE State Government has predictably decided to move ahead with the softening of drug laws in WA. It was predictable for several reasons, one of them being the close affinity the Labor Party has with small lobby groups, especially those promoting soft drug laws and the legalisation of cannabis. Another reason was the farcical manner in which the Government set up and then received the predictable recommendations from the Community Drug Summit delegates. The Government appointed a committee to pick delegates and it became very obvious that the summit delegates were in harmony with the Government's widely known direction. The Government, supported by an empathetic media, gave the 100 summit delegates an omnipotent status while at the same time it ignored the 500 public submissions that were received. The public submissions were not tainted by Government or media influence and gave a different message to the State's law makers. Only 10 per cent of the public submissions supported liberalisation of drug laws and measures such as needle exchanges. More than 70 per cent of the submissions rejected drug-liberalisation and harm-reduction policies. The Government has ignored this big number of submissions and will proceed along the tried and proved path of failure, exposing our youth and other vulnerable people to an explosion of available drugs, especially cannabis. As a result, health, behaviour, public safety, family pressures and youth suicide will be compromised for many years to come. If this Government was serious about halting the drug problem it would have toughened drug laws and subsequent penalties, not done the reverse. The flaws in the Government's proposed legislation are many, but the overriding issue is that the Government is not acting to reduce the demand for drugs nor the consumption of drugs. It is, in fact, moving towards an increase in consumption. P. A. MONEY, Geraldton. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh