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Two-thirds opposed to easing of drug laws
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/polit...ed-to-easing-of-drug-laws-20120520-1yz36.html
AUSTRALIANS remain firmly against relaxing illicit drug laws despite declarations by a group of eminent Australians and a global commission that the war on drugs has failed.
A Herald/Nielsen poll has found two-thirds of Australians oppose decriminalisation.
The finding shows little change in attitudes from a similar poll taken 13 years ago.
The latest poll finds 27 per cent of voters support decriminalisation, although that figure rises to 50 per cent of Greens and 34 per cent of Labor voters. Support among Liberal and National party voters is much lower, at 18 per cent.
Attitudes on the issue appear to be entrenched, with just 4 per cent saying they neither supported nor opposed decriminalisation and 2 per cent saying they did not know.
Greens voters, 23 per cent, were the most likely to say they or their family had been adversely affected by illegal drugs, compared with 19 per cent of ALP voters and 15 per cent of Coalition voters.
Men were more likely to support decriminalisation - 31 per cent - than women, of whom 24 per cent voiced support.
A similar poll taken in March 1999, soon after the then prime minister, John Howard, had controversially blocked a heroin trial in the ACT, showed that 71 per cent opposed decriminalisation of heroin use.
However, 45 per cent supported a heroin trial and a similar number supported safe injecting houses for heroin users.
Nielsen's polling director, John Stirton, said while there was stronger support for specific or limited changes such as heroin trials, the latest poll, taken this month, showed little real change towards decriminalisation, given the poll's margin of error of 2.8 per cent.
While the 1999 poll showed people were likely to be more receptive to specific drug reforms, the poll this month ''would suggest attitudes have not shifted much in the past decade''.
The result follows the recent report of the thinktank Australia21 that said it was time to re-open the national debate about drug use, regulation and control.
It cited the Global Commission on Drug Policy, then chaired by the former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan, which found the 40-year ''war on drugs'' had failed, with devastating consequences for individual addicts and the spread of organised crime and corruption.
The federal Minister for Mental Health, Mark Butler, who has responsibility for drug treatment, says Australia had succeeded in recent years to reduce the prevalence and harm of drug use.
The latest Australian Crime Commission figures show cannabis and steroids were the only illicit drug types to report an increase in arrests last financial year although the weight of smuggled heroin detected increased by 240 per cent and was the highest since 2001-02.
The head of the NSW drug squad, Detective Superintendent Nick Bingham, said that to decriminalise drugs ''would be abrogating the responsibility of government'' and send the wrong message that some drugs are OK.
He told the Herald it was such a complex issue that he believed it was ''impossible'' to find a reasonable solution.
The head of the Public Health Association of Australia, Michael Moore, who was ACT health minister at the time of the heroin trial debate, said the poll finding had to be considered in light of the fact that there had been little debate on the issue for a decade.
A Herald/Nielsen poll has found two-thirds of Australians oppose decriminalisation.
The finding shows little change in attitudes from a similar poll taken 13 years ago.
The latest poll finds 27 per cent of voters support decriminalisation, although that figure rises to 50 per cent of Greens and 34 per cent of Labor voters. Support among Liberal and National party voters is much lower, at 18 per cent.
Attitudes on the issue appear to be entrenched, with just 4 per cent saying they neither supported nor opposed decriminalisation and 2 per cent saying they did not know.
Greens voters, 23 per cent, were the most likely to say they or their family had been adversely affected by illegal drugs, compared with 19 per cent of ALP voters and 15 per cent of Coalition voters.
Men were more likely to support decriminalisation - 31 per cent - than women, of whom 24 per cent voiced support.
A similar poll taken in March 1999, soon after the then prime minister, John Howard, had controversially blocked a heroin trial in the ACT, showed that 71 per cent opposed decriminalisation of heroin use.
However, 45 per cent supported a heroin trial and a similar number supported safe injecting houses for heroin users.
Nielsen's polling director, John Stirton, said while there was stronger support for specific or limited changes such as heroin trials, the latest poll, taken this month, showed little real change towards decriminalisation, given the poll's margin of error of 2.8 per cent.
While the 1999 poll showed people were likely to be more receptive to specific drug reforms, the poll this month ''would suggest attitudes have not shifted much in the past decade''.
The result follows the recent report of the thinktank Australia21 that said it was time to re-open the national debate about drug use, regulation and control.
It cited the Global Commission on Drug Policy, then chaired by the former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan, which found the 40-year ''war on drugs'' had failed, with devastating consequences for individual addicts and the spread of organised crime and corruption.
The federal Minister for Mental Health, Mark Butler, who has responsibility for drug treatment, says Australia had succeeded in recent years to reduce the prevalence and harm of drug use.
The latest Australian Crime Commission figures show cannabis and steroids were the only illicit drug types to report an increase in arrests last financial year although the weight of smuggled heroin detected increased by 240 per cent and was the highest since 2001-02.
The head of the NSW drug squad, Detective Superintendent Nick Bingham, said that to decriminalise drugs ''would be abrogating the responsibility of government'' and send the wrong message that some drugs are OK.
He told the Herald it was such a complex issue that he believed it was ''impossible'' to find a reasonable solution.
The head of the Public Health Association of Australia, Michael Moore, who was ACT health minister at the time of the heroin trial debate, said the poll finding had to be considered in light of the fact that there had been little debate on the issue for a decade.
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/polit...ed-to-easing-of-drug-laws-20120520-1yz36.html
