Dirty Pills Beg For Legislation
Andrew M Potts
According to the Federal Police, ecstasy in Australia is being laced with crude adulterants including glass, rat poison, and more dangerous drugs such as heroin, LSD and methamphetamine.
While I question how often this is really occurring, can there be a better argument for regulating this drug’s manufacture and sale in this country?
Australia is one of the world’s highest per capita consumers of ecstasy, yet we are among the furthest away from the countries producing it, meaning street prices here are also among the highest.
For unscrupulous drug bosses, this makes for a powerful incentive to deceive users by passing off whatever they can for the drug in order to make big profits.
The exorbitant price has also encouraged many users to switch to the cheaper yet far more dangerous GHB, seen as an ecstasy substitute by many and perhaps the biggest killer on the Australia club scene.
Yet despite 1.5 million Australians have tried the drug, and close to 100,000 pills being consumed nationwide each weekend, few will ever see the inside of a hospital, let alone a morgue, because of their ecstasy use.
According to the Governments own statistics, of the 600,000 Australians currently using the drug, less than nine percent use it more than weekly. For most it’s a drug for special occasions, saved for a long weekend or a close friends’ birthday party.
Compare to marijuana, the drug usually featured in calls for legislation, where daily use is the norm. Even providing legal heroin to addicts gets more of a mention. But consider its known dampening effect on levels of street violence, and ecstasy is probably the most suitable drugs for legislation, not the least.
Victoria’s new police commissioner Simon Overland is a brave man for stating his openness on the subject of legislation. Few could attack his credibility as he spent 19 years as a federal police officer before leading the Purana Taskforce which brought drug criminals Carl Williams and Tony Mokbel to trial. If a police officer of his stature has questions about the merits of locking up users, then we all should. Unfortunately, Overland is a law enforcer, now a law maker.
Among Australian politicians, only the South Australian democrat Sandra Kanck has had the courage to call for ecstasy, specifically, to be legalised. She retired from politics in 2008 after being hounded by the tabloids.
Sorry guys no link, couldn't find it on the internet, i read it in a gay newspaper of my dads so I had to type it up.
Last edited: