Drugs and the law - Hot Topics 59 - Find Legal Answers

in the United States by the 1938 Marijuana Tax Act(although it had already by then been banned in 26States). Again, the Marijuana Tax Act was also strictlyspeaking a tax law, which imposed criminal penalties topunish use, possession, supply or cultivation.The United States has continued to wage a ‘War onDrugs’, both domestically and by taking a lead roleinternationally. It is the major funder and supporter ofthe International Narcotics Control Board, a UN bodywhich monitors compliance with international drugtreaties. There are several of these treaties – includingthe 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs – whichrequire signatory states to pass laws to prohibit the use,possession, sale and production of drugs. Australiais a signatory to all the international conventions onpsychoactive drugs.Ironically, as the historian Alfred McCoy has shown,while the United States has been the most vocal promoterof international drug prohibition, actions of the UnitedStates military have given the international drug tradeits biggest boosts. First, in the Second World War,American military intelligence made arrangements withSicilian mafia figures such as Lucky Luciano to supportthe Allied invasion of Italy. The arrangement allowed themafia to gain control of – and expand – the internationalheroin trade, including into the United States. Later, inVietnam, the CIA sought alliances with the hill tribes ofthe Golden Triangle against the communist Viet Minh.In exchange for their political support, the CIA providedsubstantial transport and other logistical support for thehill tribes to sell opium and heroin. And United Statessoldiers in Vietnam became the major customers for theheroin, in many cases taking their heroin dependenceback home with them.The Vietnam War contributed to the significant increasein drug consumption in Australia in the late 1960s,with American soldiers on ‘rest and recreation’ leave inAustralia creating a market for heroin, marijuana andother illicit drugs, and providing a glamorous examplefor the locals.In 1976, the Netherlands adopted a policy of selectiveenforcement of its cannabis laws. The prosecutors andpolice are instructed to not prosecute minor offenders,and to tolerate a retail supply of cannabis through cafes.The laws prohibiting the possession and use (and supplyand cultivation) of cannabis are not actually repealed,but they are not enforced – selectively – by governmentpolicy.Several European countries have since relaxed their laws(or law enforcement) about possession offences, sometimesjust for cannabis. But other European countries continuewith a predominantly prohibitionist legal system. Swedenclaims to have achieved relatively low levels of drug usewith a firm prohibitionist approach, which includescompulsory treatment of drug users, and considerablepublic resourcing of drug rehabilitation and educationprograms, after an earlier period of liberalisation.The United Nations 2006 World Drug Report 1 indicatesthat 200 million people (5% of the world’s adultpopulation) used an illicit drug in the last twelvemonths.HarM reducTiOnHarm reduction focuses on minimising the negativeimpacts associated with drug use, individually andsocially. While not advocating drug use, supporters ofharm reduction argue that we should accept that somedrug use will occur, and focus on addressing the harmscaused.This alternative approach to prohibition gained support inthe 1980s, especially in Europe and Australia, and foundexpression in a number of public health programs.In response to the arrival of the HIV/AIDS pandemicin the mid 1980s, needle exchange programs wereintroduced in Australia and in several European countrieswith the aim of preventing infectious contact betweenintravenous drug users. Needle exchange remains acriminal offence in the United States.Safe injecting rooms were introduced in Europe. In 1994Switzerland began a program of heroin prescription toheroin dependent people who had consistently failedearlier attempts at rehabilitation. The thinking is thatproviding heroin to participants gives them a chance toachieve greater stability in their lives, not least becausethey do not have to devote substantial time and energyto obtaining and paying for heroin. Heroin prescriptionnow operates in several European cities and Vancouver.drugs in ausTraliaThe first Australian drug law was an 1857 Act imposingan import duty on opium. In the following years,a number of other laws were passed imposing oftenprohibitive tariffs on opium. The primary purpose of thelaws was clearly to discourage the entry of Chinese peopleto Australia, rather than to restrict the importation ofopium itself.Australians in the nineteenth century were among theworld’s biggest consumers of opiates, thanks to the verywide popularity of patent medicines, most of whichcontained a high proportion of alcohol or morphine orboth. Laudanum, a mixture of opium and alcohol, wastaken regularly by upper class matrons and administeredto children to calm them.1. Available at www.unodc.org/unodc/en/world_drug_report.html2HOT TOPICS 59 > Drugs and the law