Lot's Wife Edition 4 2016

SOCIETY
My views on it have always been simple: treat drug
addiction more as a mental health issue and less as a
crime by changing the focus of sentencing from punitive
to rehabilitative. Casual drug users are only hurting themselves,
whereas creators and distributors are harming
the wider society. Personally I believe only one of those
groups deserve criminal penalties. I believe in ‘upstream
thinking’: we should focus on eliminating factors that lead
young people into illicit drug use, such as poverty, poor
education and poor mental health services, rather than
how we should punish them. Convicting a young person
for drug use will send them down a completely different
path for the rest of their life.
There’s a big difference between legalisation and
decriminalisation. While drugs remain illegal, decriminalisation
simply focuses on the penalties that drug
users receive. It means that people, like Cropper, won’t
necessarily have their entire life ruined by a sheet of paper
saying ‘conviction’ after they turn to ice to cope with their
precarious mental health. It would mean that people in
his position could receive help, rehabilitate, and one day
continue to work and be a functioning member of society.
With my own eyes, I’ve seen a family member go from
ice addiction to complete rehabilitation where she now
thrives under a successful career. She was never given a
conviction and things would have turned out completely
differently if that had been the case. It’s important to
remember that full rehabilitation is a very real and very
possible prospect for a lot of drug addicts, yet a conviction
will permanently inhibit any prospects for the future.
As radical as it seems, a world where drugs are decriminalised
is not entirely fictional. In 2001, the Portuguese
government completely decriminalised drug use. If
someone in Portugal is found to be in the possession of
recreational supply for any illegal drug, they are given
treatment, a minor fine, or most commonly, no penalty
at all. Fifteen years since decriminalisation, drug use has
been in steady decline, especially for those among the 15
to 24 year old population who are most at risk of initiating
drug use. Drug-induced deaths have also decreased
significantly.
Around the same time, Portugal shifted drug control
from the Justice Department to the Ministry of Health
and instituted a strong public health model for treating
hard drug addiction. They also expanded the welfare
system in the form of a guaranteed minimum income.
Changes in the material and health resources for atrisk
populations over the past decade are a key part of
Portugal’s evolution and success. Drug related offences
also take up a huge share of the work of police, the judiciary,
and prisons. A lesson to be learned from Portugal
is that decriminalising drugs doesn’t necessarily lead to
disaster as many may think. It frees up resources for more
effective responses to drug problems and it stops people
with potential to be a great contributor to society from
having that potential stripped away from them.
In recent years, Australia has taken a few progressive
steps in regards to drug use. In the Northern Territory,
adults found in possession of up to 50 grams of marijuana
are likely to be fined $200 and given 28 days to pay the
fine before being faced with a criminal charge. Since 1987,
South Australia has also decriminalised minor cannabis
offences. There hasn’t been a rise in cannabis use
rates despite certain states and territories introducing
civil penalties for users. Research on diverting
drug use offenders into treatment rather than a
conviction has shown that these individuals are just
as likely to succeed in treatment as those who attend
voluntarily.
Issues such as the ice epidemic are making the
discussion on drug reform increasingly urgent. The
number of Australians using ice at least once a month
has tripled to 270,000 in the last five years. As methamphetamine
use becomes increasingly stigmatised,
fewer people are admitting to having used the drug,
and these statistics are likely to underestimate the
level of use. When the use of an extremely dangerous
and potentially lethal drug is increasing at such a rate
and destroying communities in the process, sweeping
the issue under the rug simply isn’t good enough.
With all this positive evidence on the table, it begs
the question: why is Australia so reluctant to take
progressive drug policy reform further? Public opinion
may play a huge part as politicians largely regard
decriminalisation as an unpopular policy choice.
While national surveys prove that decriminalisation
of cannabis is popular amongst the Australian public,
decriminalisation of other drugs simply is not. Lack
of education and clarity on the issues may contribute
to this.
‘Decriminalisation’ is a word that gets misinterpreted
often. It is often inaccurately confused with
legalisation, or harm reduction services, such as
prescribed heroin programs. Stimulating informed
public debate is an important step forward. In order
for this debate to make meaningful progress, we need
to clarify terms and impartially present all evidence
that currently exists. This includes current models
of decriminalisation like Portugal, the Netherlands,
Spain, Switzerland, and to a far lesser extent but
much closer to home - Northern Territory and South
Australia.
The decriminalisation policy reform in Northern
Territory was a step in the right direction, and for
that, I can acknowledge Australia is slowly moving
forward. But in a nation where ice is killing off more
people each year and where recent drug reform
policies have made little to no difference – something
needs to be changed. Cropper’s case reminds us that
drug decriminalisation could save our most valued
members of society – our doctors, our teachers,
our lawyers – from having one mistake send them
down a completely unredeemable path. Moreover,
the discussion on decriminalisation and reforming
drug sentencing is almost non-existent in Parliament
at the moment. However, there will be a day where
Australia’s problem with drugs reaches a tipping
point. When we get there, perhaps our politicians will
realise that just because they can’t see the gruesome
realities of addiction and poverty from their bedroom
window in Toorak, it doesn’t mean that it is not happening
right in front of us.
Lifeline: 13 11 14
www.druginfo.adf.org.au
Lot’s Wife | 25