Pubdate: Wed, 04 Apr 2012
Source: Age, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2012 The Age Company Ltd
Contact:  http://www.theage.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5
Author: John Silvester
Cited: Law Enforcement Against Prohibition http://www.leap.cc/

WAR ON DRUGS AN ABSOLUTE BUST

IT WAS the metaphor from hell that started this mess.

We can blame US president Richard Nixon, who in 1971 famously 
declared War On Drugs, and like Vietnam, it has proved to be 
unwinnable. Perhaps it should have been compared to disease, where we 
don't look for total victory but rather see every person saved as a win.

If addictions were an Olympic event, Australia would medal every 
time. From cocaine in the 1920s, over-the-counter drugs in the 1950s, 
heroin in the '80s and the present designer pill push, we have been 
near first in the queue.

An Australian executive expat returned to Sydney recently on business 
and was shocked to see Friday afternoon happy hour had been replaced 
with the A-crowd popping pills like imported beers.

The market is massive and the profits staggering.

Which is why we have crooks who no longer own their own teeth but can 
now afford designer sports cars and can be seen regularly gumming 
down crispy duck at the Flower Drum.

And no matter how many times police smash amphetamine labs or seize 
containers of pills, the price and purity on the street remains the 
same. We are awash with it.

Once there tended to be two distinct philosophical camps in the drug 
debate. On one side we had the left of centres, who tended to favour 
decriminalisation, and the law and orders, who wanted a tough-guy stance.

Yet increasingly the hardline practitioners - police and prosecutors 
- - are prepared to say publicly what many have been muttering 
privately for years - that the present strategy has failed and we 
need to find another way.

Yesterday a prominent group of Australians backed a report that 
declared the war on drugs had failed and that we should explore 
alternative policies. This in itself is quite unremarkable except the 
backers include those who spent their lives enforcing those laws - 
people such as former New South Wales director of public prosecutions 
Nicholas Cowdery, QC, and retired Australian Federal Police 
commissioner Mick Palmer.

The exasperation of level-headed investigators is nothing new. On 
June 16, 1988, recently retired deputy commissioner Paul Delianis 
used these pages to argue the law enforcement model had failed and we 
needed to examine other options, including legalisation.

Delianis was and remains a powerful voice. As the head of the 
homicide squad he was one of the first to see the reach of the 
murderous Mr Asia drug syndicate that killed and corrupted around the world.

In the United States, former front-line troops in Nixon's war have 
formed a lobby group to push for an end to the policy. More than 3500 
former police, prison officials, prosecutors and judges are part of 
LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) which has more than 50,000 
registered supporters.

LEAP co-founder Jack Cole, a former detective lieutenant and 
undercover operative, says the present path is a "self-perpetuating, 
constantly expanding, policy disaster".

"We have spent over a trillion tax dollars on that war, made over 39 
million arrests, and today our prisons are filled to the breaking 
point with 2.3 million people, far more per capita than any country 
in the world.

"The results of this useless policy? Today drugs are cheaper, more 
potent, and far easier for our children to access than they were at 
the beginning."

In Australia the figures reflect a similar position, with detectives 
estimating up to 80 per cent of their investigations have a drug 
link, while prison authorities say 70 per cent of male and 80 per 
cent of female inmates were drug users on the outside.

Perhaps our present policy is caught in the middle, where we try to 
treat users and punish dealers - because the line on the street is 
blurred. Users sell to pay for their habits and top-end dealers often 
use just because they can. The lines between part-timers and 
professional crooks also clash with awful consequences. James Russouw 
was a likeable young student who fell into selling cannabis to his 
friends. In March 2008 he was murdered in East Burwood for the cash 
he was carrying to make a drug buy.

The regimes that claim some success are countries that have lined up 
on either end of the spectrum. The Netherlands has effectively 
decriminalised and is happy with the results. Singapore chases both 
users and sellers and has one of the lowest addiction rates in Asia.

But here in Australia, risk-averse politicians are unlikely to strike 
out in a new direction. While it is certain that decriminalising 
drugs would savagely cut the profits made by organised crime, no 
expert can confidently predict the ultimate fallout.

Certainly when we relaxed our alcohol licensing laws, sly-grog 
business disappeared, and when we introduced 24-hour gambling the 
illegal industry collapsed.

But at what long-term cost?
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom