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.
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MAP posted-by: Josh