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Is Legalisation the Answer? Drug Law Reform Event at UNSW this Thursday 26 April

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socialjustice

Greenlighter
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Apr 23, 2012
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Hi all,

You may all be interested to hear that the UNSW Law Society is holding a speakers and Q&A event this Thursday night titled: 'Is Legalisation the Answer? Problems with our Current Approach to Drugs and Options for Reform'. These issues are particularly relevant given that Senator Bob Carr recently called for de facto decriminalisation of low-level drugs, and several coalitions of Australian experts have condemned the 'War on Drugs' is a failure.

Craig Reucassel (of Chaser and Q&A fame) will be moderating, and the speakers will be:
Dr Alex Wodak, President of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation;
Paul Cubitt, President of LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) Australia;
Dr Caitlin Hughes, from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre; and
Rusty Young, writer of the critically acclaimed ‘Marching Powder’ on illegal drug tours in Bolivia’s prisons.

After short presentations by these speakers there will be a Q&A which all persons are invited to participate in. The debate is sure to be a fiery, amusing and intelligent one with Craig hosting!

When: Thursday April 26 5:45-8pm. Food and drinks will be served afterwards in the law lounge.
Location: UNSW Law Building G04.
For more information: search for the Facebook event titled 'Q&A: Drug Law Reform and Harm Minimisation' or contact emily.burke @ unswlawsoc.org. The event is open to all.

Cheers
 
Sounds very interesting :D

Since it's also quite interesting and related to drug laws but doesn't deserve its own thread, I hope you don't mind if I post this news article here:

Crime one of the world's top 20 economies: UN

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The United Nations says crime generates an estimated $US2.1 trillion in global proceeds each year - 3.6 per cent of the world's gross domestic product.

In what are the first UN figures for global crime profits, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has announced criminal business is one of the world's top 20 economies.

"It makes the criminal business one of the largest economies in the world, one of the top 20 economies," UNODC head Yury Fedotov said.

Mr Fedotov told a news conference the figures were calculated recently for the first time by the UNODC and World Bank, based on data for 2009, and no comparisons are yet available.

Speaking on the opening day of a week-long meeting of the international Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ), he suggested the situation may be worsening "but to corroborate this feeling I need more data".

He said up to $US40 billion is lost through corruption in developing countries annually, and illicit income from human trafficking amounts to $US32 billion every year.

"According to some estimates, at any one time, 2.4 million people suffer the misery of human trafficking, a shameful crime of modern day slavery," Mr Fedotov said separately in a speech.

He also cited a range of other crimes yielding big money.

Mr Fedotov said organised crime, illicit trafficking, violence and corruption are "major impediments" to the Millennium Development Goals, a group of targets set by the international community in 2000 to seek to improve health and reduce poverty among the world's poorest people by 2015.

'Impressive adaptability'

A senior US official also told the meeting in Vienna that criminal groups have shown "impressive adaptability" to law enforcement actions and to new profit opportunities.

"Today, most criminal organisations bear no resemblance to the hierarchical organised crime family groups of the past," principal deputy assistant secretary Brian Nichols said, according to a copy of his speech.

"Instead, they consist of loose and informal networks that often converge when it is convenient and engage in a diverse array of criminal activities," Mr Nichols, of the US Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, added.

He said terrorist groups in some cases were turning to crime to help fund their operations.

"There are even instances where terrorists are evolving into criminal entrepreneurs in their own right," he said.
Click to expand...
 
I'll definitely be making an appearance, this looks interesting.

Wil report back and fill you guys in on what was discussed, definitely exciting to finally have a say in the matter.
 
I went along even though I was feeling pretty crappy.
There would have been close to 100 people there. Mostly in their 20s and pro legalisation (just guessing).

Dr Alex Wodak spoke first about Australias drug policy, drug policy history, expenditure on drugs and reasons for legalisation. One of the figures he used was Australia spends around 70% of drug budget on supply reduction ie police/customs etc, 15% on demand reduction ie education and 15% on rehabilition. Figures not accurate as I can't remember exactly but somewhere close.

Dr Caitlin Hughes spoke about decriminalistion of drugs in Portugal and the positive benefits on society ie lower usage rates.

Paul Cubbit spoke about Australias prisons and freely available drugs and the war on drugs isn't working.

Rusty Young spoke about cocaine and economic benefits of drug legalisation. And also pointed out problems that could occur if a country has to rely on drug taxes.

Overall it was very informative and reinforced my beliefs that the war on drugs is a complete failure, drug policy should be changed and drugs should be regulated and taxed.
 
Thanks, sounds great! Pity these smaller focused events tend to end up largely preaching to the converted :\
 
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