Pubdate: Sun, 08 Apr 2012
Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Copyright: 2012 The Sydney Morning Herald
Contact:  http://www.smh.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/441
Author: Nicholas Cowdery

A POLICY IN NEED OF REHAB

When a policy is failing ... change it. Australia 21's report on drug
law reform restarts a public conversation that has been dormant for
many long years while the problem has persisted. It is not a blueprint
(although such blueprints exist), nor a list of recommendations. When
we have that conversation, the public will be able to take proposals
to the politicians for their responses.

For decades we have pursued a policy of drug prohibition, with the
exception of alcohol and tobacco (and caffeine). It really began in
1903. Then the US president Richard Nixon declared a ''war on drugs''
on June 17, 1971 - as an election campaign ploy. In 1985 Australia
adopted the National Drug Strategy, built around supply reduction,
demand reduction and harm reduction - all worthy pursuits - and we
have had real success in reducing some harms from drugs.

But the policy of prohibition has failed. It failed in the US when
they tried it for alcohol from 1920 to 1933; all that did was
eliminate the beer market in favour of bootleg spirits. It failed when
alcohol was prohibited to Aborigines between the 1850s and 1960s. As
long as there is a demand for something - as there always has been and
will be for mood-altering drugs, including alcohol and nicotine -
there will always be a supply.

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Suppliers of prohibited drugs take risks and they charge for that. If
they are successful, they make enormous profits. So prices are inflated
and consumers often steal to obtain the money with which to pay them.
Criminals engage in turf wars and the corruption of law enforcement to
protect their markets.

In a black market there are no product standards. Buyers do not know
the quality or quantity of the drug they are buying. Because the drugs
are illegal, they are consumed clandestinely - underground. The
equipment used and conditions of use are often unsanitary. Users do
not openly discuss it - children cannot discuss it with their parents.
Support is bypassed.

The prohibition of drugs itself breeds disease, death, crime and
corruption. No matter how much we have thrown at it over the decades,
drugs now are more plentiful, more available, more potent and cheaper
than ever before. Every large seizure just opens up a business
opportunity for another criminal.

Make no mistake - drugs can be had by anyone with the price. So much
for ''prohibition''.

When a policy is failing to produce its intended effect, what should
we do? Change it, of course! But to what? That is the question.

Different drugs have different effects, are consumed in different
circumstances and should be treated in different ways. That's the
first problem - it is not a case of ''one size fits all''. We deal
with alcohol and nicotine, both very harmful drugs, openly and
officially. Only by legalising, regulating, controlling and taxing
them can we secure any benefits. We are having success with nicotine -
the death rate has been halved in 25 years and we have yet to go to
plain packaging. We have small successes with alcohol by restricting
opening hours and consumption - but there are still serious harms.
Bringing other drugs out into the open might not eliminate all the
harm the drugs can do but it will help to address them and it will
eliminate the additional harm caused by prohibition itself.

Heroin could be prescribed in Australia until 1953 - it still can be
in Britain and parts of Europe, where it is used for the relief of
otherwise intractable pain and for weaning addicts away from it.
Better that an addict gets clean, regulated, affordable doses (a dose
can be made for about $2 and we grow it in Tasmania) in an environment
of support and assistance.

Cannabis also has pain-relieving properties and naturally grown
marijuana is less harmful than nicotine. Regulated supplies could
avoid the hydroponically enhanced and more dangerous weed - linked
with mental disturbance because of its altered chemical balance.

Then it gets tricky. What to do with ecstasy? Cocaine? Amphetamines?
That is why we need to have this conversation. Until we do, those
drugs will also continue to be used without controls.

No responsible commentator is suggesting that all drugs should be
available to everybody at the supermarket (although that would be a
safer outlet than the lottery played by buyers at present). But the
only way to reduce the harm presently caused by prohibition (on top of
the harm of drugs) is to take the profit out of the market. The only
effective way to do that is to have the state take it over.

Licences for production and distribution would be difficult to obtain
and easy to lose. Control would be stringent. Age limits would apply
(yes, minors do get their hands on alcohol and nicotine - no system is
foolproof). Quality would be assured. Price would be cost plus
marketing plus modest profit and tax (and the tax could be directed at
treatment).

There would still be bootleggers, of course - chancers out for a
profit. So the criminal law would still have a job to do but it would
be much reduced. About 10 per cent of tobacco in Australia is
bootlegged and there are laws to deal with that.

So let's get talking about it! Maybe a good starting point is to
consider the Portuguese decriminalisation model. It works.

Nicholas Cowdery, QC, was the NSW director of public prosecutions from
1994 to 2011.
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MAP posted-by: Matt