Burns controversy on ice
COUNCILLOR CALLS FOR LEGALISATION OF METHAMPHETAMINE
A MANLY councillor wants to legalise the drug ice.
Cr Hugh Burns told the Manly Daily it would be safer for drug users to pick up a standard product from a GP than rely on criminal drug cooks.
Fellow councillor and policeman Alan Le Surf blasted Cr Burns’ suggestion as “definitely not a good idea” because ice is too dangerous.
“It’s like crack, people who take it will want to go back and have some more. It’s a slow way to die, but eventually you will,” he said.
While not advocating drug use, Cr Burns said the legalisation push was about “defining the dose”.
“My view is that by legalising it to a point, even if you had to go to the GP, you’re getting a fixed dose,” he said.
“I think it would be safer to have a branded product with a standard dose even if it’s morally repugnant.”
He said only “confirmed addicts” should be allowed to access drugs in this way and the same method could be used for other drugs such as heroin and ecstasy.
Drug campaigner Tony Wood, whose daughter Anna died after taking an ecstasy tablet in 1995, called Cr Burns’ idea “insane”.
“How does he even get on council, for goodness sake. I’m flabbergasted,” he said.
“It’s completely ridiculous. The problem is … they’re banned because they are dangerous, they’re not dangerous because they are banned and ice is just such a dreadful, horrible drug that’s destroyed so many young lives.
“I just can’t understand how anybody could think about legalising this stuff.”
Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione has previously called ice a “scourge” and said: “For those caught in it, it is creeping death. It destroys communities, it destroys nations.”
But Dr Alex Wodak, a physician at St Vincent’s Hospital, said the idea was a “helpful suggestion” and a contribution to debate on law reform.
“It’s time, exactly right now, to have this debate,” he said. He favours controlled legalisation of less-powerful drugs, similar to how methadone clinics operate.
“Under prohibition more dangerous drugs drive out less dangerous ones,” he said.
Drug expert Rebecca McKetin, a researcher at the Australian National University in Canberra said that even if the problems associated with organised crime were removed, users would still face health problems.
“There are other harms which would be there regardless of whether it’s legal or not,” she said.
Manly Council voted to write to Manly state Liberal MP and Premier Mike Baird to call for a drug summit.
http://newslocal.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
Google - manly beach
