NEWS : 27.8.09 - Tide turns in favour of drug reform

[kingpin007]

Tide turns in favour of drug reform


Alex Wodak
August 27, 2009

One hundred years ago, the US convened the International Opium Conference. This meeting of 13 nations in Shanghai was the beginning of global drug prohibition.

Prohibition slowly became one of the most universally applied policies in the world. But a century on, international support for this blanket drug policy is slowly but inexorably unravelling.

In January, Barack Obama became the third US president in a row to admit to consumption of cannabis. Bill Clinton had admitted using cannabis but denied ever inhaling it. George Bush was taped saying in private he would never admit in public to having used cannabis. When Obama was asked whether he had inhaled cannabis, he said: ''Of course. That was the whole point.''

Obama has candidly discussed his drug use. ''Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow [cocaine] when you could afford it.'' He has also admitted the ''war on drugs is an utter failure'' and called for more focus on a public health approach.

In February, a Latin American drug policy commission similarly concluded that the ''drug war is a failure''. It recommended breaking the ''taboo on open debate including about cannabis decriminalisation''. The same month, an American diplomat said the US supported needle-exchange programs to help reduce the transmission of HIV and other blood-borne diseases, and supported using medication to treat those addicted to opiates.

In March, the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs met in Vienna as the culmination of a 10-year review of global drug policy. A ''political declaration'' was issued which, at the urging of the US, excluded the phrase ''harm reduction''. This omission caused a split in the fragile international consensus on drug policy and resulted in 26 countries, including Australia, demanding explicit support for harm reduction in a footnote.

In April, Michel Kazatchkine, of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, argued in favour of decriminalising illicit drugs to allow efforts to halt the spread of HIV to succeed. The same month, a national Zogby poll in the US provided evidence of changing opinion on the legalisation of cannabis: 52 per cent supported cannabis becoming legal, taxed and regulated.

In May there was movement on several fronts. The Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, said: ''I think it's not time for [legalisation], but I think it's time for a debate.'' He was supported by a number of other American politicians, while Vicente Fox, a former Mexican president, said he was not yet convinced it was the solution but asked: ''Why not discuss it?'' The Colombian Vice-President, Francisco Santos Calderon, is already convinced. ''The only way you can really solve the problem [is] if you legalise it totally.''

Obama's drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said he wanted to banish the idea of fighting a ''war on drugs'', while the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, said criminal sanctions on same-sex sex, commercial sex and drug injections were barriers for HIV treatment services. ''Those behaviours should be decriminalised, and people addicted to drugs should receive health services for the treatment of their addiction,'' he said.

In Germany, the federal parliament voted 63 per cent in favour to allow heroin prescription treatment.

In July, the Economic and Social Council, a UN body more senior than the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, approved a resolution requiring national governments to provide ''services for injecting drug users in all settings, including prisons'' and harm reduction programs such as needle syringe programs and substitution treatment for heroin users. This month, Mexico removed criminal sanctions for possessing any illicit drug in small quantities while Argentina is making similar changes for cannabis.

Portugal, Spain and Italy had earlier dropped criminal sanctions for possessing small amounts of any illicit drug, while the Netherlands and Germany have achieved the same effect by changing policing policy.

It is now clear that support for a drug policy heavily reliant on law enforcement is dwindling in Western Europe, the US and South America, while support for harm reduction and drug law reform is growing. Sooner or later this debate will start again in Australia.

Alex Wodak is director of the Alcohol and Drug Service at St Vincent's Hospital.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/tide-turns-in-favour-of-drug-reform-20090826-ezph.html

 

[Crankinit]

It's a slow process but I think the ball has really started rolling these last few years. Give it two decades and I think we may be looking at a very real possibility of legal marijuana in most of the western wrodl.

 

[NickyJ]

I still find it hard to believe that any of this will happen in Australia. But maybe I'm just a pessimist.

 

[hyroller]

I personally don't see it happening either.

And after my personal experiences with witnessing prolonged cannabis use, it is still quite dangerous territory.

 

[Crankinit]

As dangerous as prolonged alcohol use?

 

[drug_mentor]

It really does seem like drug law reform is gaining increasing support lately which is great to see. I hope it doesn't turn out to be some fad of radical thinking and it continues to increase.

I think marijuana will definately become legal in my lifetime (assuming I don't have an untimely death lol). Even my anti-drug dad has always said he thinks weed will be made legal before I die.

Hyroller I agree with you about prolonged heavy marijuana use having its drawbacks but really it has been shown time and time again that it really is the safest intoxicating substance. Of the many people I know from different walks of life who use marijuana heavily and who use alcohol heavily, the smokers are generally a lot better off health wise.

 

[Crankinit]

Yeah nobody is arguing that cannabis is harmless, only that it's less harmful than alcohol and that the harms caused by prohibition outweigh the harms prevented by it.

Hopefully this will lead to decriminalization for personal use quantities of 'harder' drugs and a lessening of the stigma that surrounds them. I'd be very wary about legalizing most other chemicals, since I think it's unclear as to whether the harms caused by prohibition outweigh the harms prevented by the reduction in circulation of those drugs, but marginalizing users and turning them into criminals certainly doesn't do anything good for society.

 

[8L4YN3]

Meh, im not holding my breath on weed ever becoming legal in Australia. Well definantly not under the krudd government.

Australia is run by a bunch of conservative christians who beleive it is their right to determine what is acceptable for us to watch, ingest...ect the list goes on.

Australia dosn't even have an R rating for games. Have you guys actually seen what they edited out of Grand Theft Auto 4? It's fucking pathetic, if any of you download shows like weeds and californication via torrents or what have you, then seen the same episodes on free to air, or pay tv(yes, pay tv is also censored, what a joke), you start to realise Australia is extremely conservative.

Trust me when i tell y'all we're not half a step closer to Marijuana laws being reformed.

I honestly beleive we would likely be the last nation to ever see drug laws reformed. Hell we have fucking laws prohibiting the sale of BONGS! In some states in our nation you can be charged for possessing a bong, purely for the item, even if you have no weed. Dont tell me this is bullshit either people;

My friend's brother is a huge meth addict/cook, and the cops stormed my mates house(his brother didn't even live there, and hadn't for the last 2 years), they searched the house, found my friends vaporizer, and the charge was "possesses things". How fucking unprofessional and stupid. He ended up defending himself in court and due to having no prior convictions and shit he got off pretty much scot free.

But my point is when it comes to drugs, Australia is one of the most backwards in the western world, i wouldn't count on weed EVER becoming legal in Australia.

 

[KetaKink]

Yeh im sorta with you on this one 8l4yn3, but i do believe however, if and when other western nations start to really discuss this in their governments (especially the unitedstates) then it will only be natural for Australia to follow. Especially if it is succesfull in the other nations.

They just wont have an argument againts why, when all the other nations have decrim'd it, if succesfull, that we shouldnt.

What do you think will happen with prices if it was decriminalized and taxed? obviously more then the current prices?

 

[Crankinit]

Australia is never going to be a policy trailblazer, but the real question is whether America will legalize. I guarantee that if America legalizes cannabis then Australia will follow within 2 years.

8L4YN3 I didn't realise they censored the episodes of Californication and Weeds that aired in Australia. Have any examples of stuff they removed? I watched both shows online, with the exception of S1 Californication, kind of curious about what they removed for the Aussie version.

 

[drug_mentor]

I agree that Australia will never be a world leader in drug policy, but whatever America does we will soon follow.

There is a lot of support being drummed up for legalization of marijuana in America, the main arguments being the violence and mexico and the failing economy.

I am also pretty interested in what gets edited out of Australian TV and video games. I knew they edited pretty much every 3D GTA but I don't know exactly what they took out.

 

[Jakeperson]

My friend's brother is a huge meth addict/cook, and the cops stormed my mates house(his brother didn't even live there, and hadn't for the last 2 years), they searched the house, found my friends vaporizer, and the charge was "possesses things". How fucking unprofessional and stupid. He ended up defending himself in court and due to having no prior convictions and shit he got off pretty much scot free.

This pretty much depends on the police's mood and what their quote is like.

I know a guy who got charged for a bong when raided looking for his weed stash. He hadn't dealt in around 6 months. Good intelligence.

And yet another guy I know has raided looking for large quantities of Meth and no meth was found and let him keep the ounce of weed he had.

 

[MrIbis]

^I was raided once, and we had maybe a 1/4 oz of pot on us... they were actually looking for my fugitive cousin.

after the search, the cops came and gave us back the pot, said sorry for waking us up, and said, enjoy the smoke.

 

[static_mind]

Yeah one of my friends was at home when the cops came to his door, they didnt get any answer so they came in and looked around and found him asleep on the bed naked and woke him up. They gave him the chance to get dressed in privite and talk in the living room, where he went out and the bong and a chop bowl of grass was sitting. They told him to put it away, they needed to ask a few questions about a robbery near by and they new another of my friends was living there and they suspected it was him. The story checked out and they left, didnt give a shit about the weed. Im guessing cops who are dealing with real crime can't be assed dealing with pot.

 

[Amblin]

A friend of mines house mate had the cops looking for him for stolen property (unknown to my mate). The cops turned up and said do you have anything to declare and he handed over his bong. At the end of the search they booked him for the bong but told him they only did because they had him on tape declaring it and next time just to keep quiet. Sorry off topic...

I would love to see even a slight positive shift in public views towards drug use....

 

[bit_pattern]

^I was raided once, and we had maybe a 1/4 oz of pot on us... they were actually looking for my fugitive cousin.

after the search, the cops came and gave us back the pot, said sorry for waking us up, and said, enjoy the smoke.

I'm a strong believer in the paperwork-to- result ratio, often police will weigh up the time it would take to process and charge you against the result and if it's a piddling offence they'll usually let you go. I've been caught in a car with a loaded ice-pipe, bottles of G, and a G'd out 19 y/o female driver. The cops tried the old 'tell us where we got it or we charge you' but I made sure she stayed staunch and they ended up letting us go and telling us they'd be past to check the car was still there and if it was gone then they'd charge the driver.

 

[djsim]

Australia is run by a bunch of conservative christians who beleive it is their right to determine what is acceptable for us to watch, ingest...ect the list goes on.

But my point is when it comes to drugs, Australia is one of the most backwards in the western world, i wouldn't count on weed EVER becoming legal in Australia.

My friend, Australia is like a fucking brothel compared the USA. Now that is a backwards fucking country. The zealots (generally in the south) are every bit as dangerous and deranged as any Muslim suicide bomber. I grew up in the USA (US citizen), and even up in New England our family pretty much had to pay lip-service to going to church or we'd be ostracised.
Australia suits me just fine thank you

I would love to see even a slight positive shift in public views towards drug use....

Like everything else in our capitalist society, money will drive the change. When it becomes proitable to make these drugs it'll happen in a nanosecond, especially as nicotine and alcohol become more taboo. Govt is sitting on a fucking goldmine if they taxed recreational drugs... I'm also pretty sure there will be more important things in the future to spend billions of $ on (like failing crops and sinking cities etc)

 

[sir pacman]

Another generation and there might be change. Still its nice to dream

 

[madmick19]

its interesting that the argument is changing when all the official stats are that drug use in general is on the decrease. well except for XTC that is

 

[8L4YN3]

My friend, Australia is like a fucking brothel compared the USA. Now that is a backwards fucking country. The zealots (generally in the south) are every bit as dangerous and deranged as any Muslim suicide bomber. I grew up in the USA (US citizen), and even up in New England our family pretty much had to pay lip-service to going to church or we'd be ostracised.
Australia suits me just fine thank you



Like everything else in our capitalist society, money will drive the change. When it becomes proitable to make these drugs it'll happen in a nanosecond, especially as nicotine and alcohol become more taboo. Govt is sitting on a fucking goldmine if they taxed recreational drugs... I'm also pretty sure there will be more important things in the future to spend billions of $ on (like failing crops and sinking cities etc)

I agree, but my point is Australia is run by a bunch of do-gooders, and we're not half a step closer to drugs or just marijuana being legalized.

It just wont happen.