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Will UK Drug Law Reform influence Australia?

T

Terry Wright

Greenlighter
Joined
Apr 30, 2009
Messages
26
Howdy all.

Has anyone considered what effect a radical change in UK drug policy would have on Australia? e.g. Prescription heroin & cocaine, cannabis cafes, decriminalisation for personal amounts of all drugs, rescheduling of drug classification etc.

One of the parties from the newly formed UK coalition government is a big supporter of drug law reform. It is very possible that some or all of the strategies I listed above will become part of a new UK drug policy. This will give them the much needed legitimacy to be introduced here.

Am I dreaming or is this a real possibility?

Read more...

--
Regards

Terry Wright
The Australian Heroin Diaries

Addiction was diagnosed as an illness over 100 years ago ... Society has just decided to treat it as a crime.
 
Cameron and many Tory MPs would never allow such a change, and Clegg doesn't have a strong enough influence in the current coalition government for this to come about. This is one of the main reasons why The Lib Dems are pushing for proportional representation as it will strengthen their say on matters such as these.
 
The new coalition should be...interesting. Given our laws seem to be getting more draconian, I'm not holding my breath for reform.
 
Terry Wright said:
Howdy all.

Has anyone considered what effect a radical change in UK drug policy would have on Australia? e.g. Prescription heroin & cocaine, cannabis cafes, decriminalisation for personal amounts of all drugs, rescheduling of drug classification etc.

One of the parties from the newly formed UK coalition government is a big supporter of drug law reform. It is very possible that some or all of the strategies I listed above will become part of a new UK drug policy. This will give them the much needed legitimacy to be introduced here.

Am I dreaming or is this a real possibility?

Read more...


--
Regards

Terry Wright
The Australian Heroin Diaries

Addiction was diagnosed as an illness over 100 years ago ... Society has just decided to treat it as a crime.
Click to expand...

wont change anything here.... UK never effects our laws. Although our government is always looking 'worldwide' for help with many law changes.

Other countries are already doing this (Nederlands/Parts Of USA) ...it hasnt changed our law at all.
 
I believe it may come down to whether the TGA can find a way of controlling the rapidly morphing legal highs industry. While recommendations from LE for a new drug class may seem unlikely, no Australian agency with any real knowledge of the current scene would dismiss this outright as a future possibility.

Why? because if the influx of new substance that don't fall under broadened analogue legislation increases significantly, LE would be left twiddling it's thumbs, because these products would essentially fall outside of their jurisdiction. In the end it makes a mockery out of existing drug laws. The TGA therefore would have to make such recommendations. I guess in relation to Aus, LE departments, and the AOD sector will be watching the rest of the world closely, with the TGA first striving to develop some rulings that allow the control of future substances.

The bigger question should perhaps be who will win the next election. Perhaps a hung parliament would help here, but one thing is for sure imo. If Catholic church backed Abbot ever gets in, there will be Buckley's chance for effective reform.
 
^You're kidding yourself if you think Rudd will reform drug laws either. Drug reform is unlikely to come from either of the major parties, which is a shame, given the smaller parties don't even pretend they could run the country. In the current climate, any drug reform is political suicide for any credible party in Australia, and they all love the power too much to risk it.
 
^You're kidding yourself if you think Rudd will reform drug laws either.
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You're probably right, but regardless of who's in power, if a "meow meow" type media hysteria were to eventuate featuring different substances every few weeks, there will be unprecedented pressure for the gov to do something.
 
I’d like to think that the global rethink on drugs will eventually put pressure on Australia to reform its current policies. The big one that I think will change the whole scenario is the November cannabis vote in California. Just as an aside if you want to see prohibition in a whole new light try to get a hold of the new South Park episode Medicinal Fried Chicken. It has a real poke at the whole issue. It’s the best portrayal of the sheer lunacy of prohibition and flawed science.
 
Id say they would make some sort of pro list where everything is banned unless its on the list of approved drugs
 
phase_dancer said:
You're probably right, but regardless of who's in power, if a "meow meow" type media hysteria were to eventuate featuring different substances every few weeks, there will be unprecedented pressure for the gov to do something.
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I think you are underestimating the narrow minds of our government and also australian voters. When it comes to drug policy, TV shows like 'Sunday Night' 'TT' and 'ACA' and with newspapers like MX and the Herald Sun...you get my drift.

Let's keep in mind most australian mobile phone users are still with 'Telstra'. Use this as a gauge to show when Australians are truly ready for change. No offence, but we need half of a certain generation to die off.
 
As I see it, for the masses who support prohibition, up until now recreational drug use has been largely dealt with by offering, what on the surface, has appeared to be a plausible response; make the substances illegal and/or clamp down on those already illegal.

But if new products are to pop up at an unprecedented rate that aren't covered by local laws, this approach will eventually be seen to be ineffective, no matter how fast something is legislated or acted on. Ironically, the commercial programs you mentioned are likely to hasten the process if they keep up their focus and present ridiculous stories like the mephedrone thing. And yes, of course there will be more casualties. But at some point it will appear painstakingly obvious to the masses that the solution has to lie with another approach.

Oh, and I just switched to Telstra - it's the only coverage we get here, even with the place being the tourism jewel of the sunshine coast :\
 
TGR I don't know what being with telstra has to do with anything, the fact is they own the telephone lines and there isn't better coverage out there.

I doubt much is going to change in the UK anytime soon, if it did I don'tthink we would immediately follow suit but after a few years if other (western) countries jumped on the bandwagon we probably would eventually.
 
Before any reform could happen public perception would need to change. Given that most people believe all drug users to be idiot kids and thieving junkies, I think we have a long way to go.

Edit: Alternatively, we could keep plummeting into a larger and larger deficit, forcing the government to legalise things simply for the tax money.
 
I believe the internet generations will be far more open and intelligent then times gone by. Most of the anti drug rants comes from the baby boomer generation who have grown up around the anti drug propagander but however they are dieing off. The newer generations have access to the internet and thus are less susceptible to propagander
 
Good point static_mind. It is easy to speak to well informed people on drug forums about the 'real' health risks, pros and cons about all different sorts of drugs, whereas 30 years ago, everything was what the TV or radio said. Or unless you were really in the know.
A lot of the time, the internet provides a place for discussion, where TV and radio never did.
 
The good thing is that whilst many people still don't use the internet to research these sorts of things drug users and non drug users. Most groups of friends will have someone who knows more then the rest, It's us blue lighters role to keep the myths at bay.

I think that it would eventually impact on us. Provided it was successful and as previously mentioned if some other western country's get on board aswell.
I'll tell you one thing though, with the way this current drought is, if England are the first to legalise MDMA there tourism would go through the roof for 18months minimum.

If it does happen, I would love to see a massive joining of bluelighters all in an MDMA high together. It would feel like victory.
 
static_mind said:
I believe the internet generations will be far more open and intelligent then times gone by. Most of the anti drug rants comes from the baby boomer generation who have grown up around the anti drug propagander but however they are dieing off. The newer generations have access to the internet and thus are less susceptible to propagander
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Having met a number of the younger generation of politicians, they are just as bad as the previous, takes a special type of asshole to become a politician.
 
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