NEWS: Herald Sun [31/08/2004] - Greens policy backs illegal drugs

Greens policy backs illegal drugs
Gerard McManus
31 Aug 2004

ECSTASY and other illegal drugs would be supplied over the counter to young users in a radical policy framed by Senator Bob Brown's Greens.

The Greens manifesto backs official supply of the dangerous drug ecstasy as well as state-sanctioned heroin and marijuana sales at what it calls appropriate venues.

The ecstasy policy suggests distributing the drug to users while providing official information detailing the dangers of the drug.

About 15 people have died from ecstasy use since it hit Australia in the 1990s. The drug can cause severe psychological side-effects in some people.

A Herald Sun examination of Greens policies reveals other extraordinary plans for Australia including:

LAWS to force people to ride bicycles more often and eat less meat.

DRIVING farmers from their land.

MEDICARE funding for sex-change operations.

CAPITAL gains tax on the most expensive family homes.

AN OPEN door policy on asylum seekers.

With a chance to grab the balance of power in the Senate, the Greens have for the first time released a comprehensive set of policies beyond their environmental platform.

They want a welfare program that allows people to remain on higher dole payments indefinitely without any requirement to look for a job.

The Greens also want the population cut by two million, and for unspecified farms, roads and buildings to be turned back into nature.

With Senator Brown at its helm and two other MPs already in Federal Parliament, the Greens are aiming to treble their representation by installing a new senator in each state and picking up Lower House seats.

Senator Brown said yesterday he believed one million Australians would vote for the Greens at this election -- double the number of Green voters at the last election.

Senator Brown said the Greens hoped to unseat a sitting Liberal senator in the ACT, win the ALP seat of Melbourne held by Lindsay Tanner and hold the NSW seat of Cunningham.

Green critic Mike Nahan, of the Institute of Public Affairs, a Right-wing think tank, said the party was the most radical Australia had seen.

"The Greens are loopier than any party I've seen, and will be much worse than the Australian Democrats ever were," he said.

"It was OK while they were playing devil's advocate, with Bob Brown shouting from the sidelines, but now there is a real prospect of them winning the balance of power."

Prime Minister John Howard yesterday described the Greens' agenda as kooky.

"The Greens are not just about the environment," he said. "They have a whole lot of other very, very kooky policies in relation to things like drugs and all of that sort of stuff and new taxes and whatever, which people never talk about because they try and portray themselves as a one-issue party of just being warm and fuzzy about the environment."

Greens policies also include cutting Murray River irrigators by 3000 gigalitres -- or six times the size of the Sydney Harbour -- each year.

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Dual policy on drugs
Gerard McManus
31 Aug 2004

BOB Brown's Greens are advocating a dual policy on drugs going into the election - a crackdown on legal and prescription drugs but a loosening up on illegal drugs.

For the first time a major political party is advocating all personal use of illegal drugs to be moved outside the criminal framework.

Marijuana, ecstasy and other unnamed drugs would be available at "appropriate venues" and in "controlled environments", according to the party's policy.

While giving the green light to marijuana, ecstasy and other drugs, Senator Brown's party appears to be alarmed about GHB and date-rape drugs.

It describes these as "drugs of concern" and says there needs to be more research and public campaigns to warn about their dangers.

Pilot programs would be undertaken to examine controlled availability of heroin to registered users from approved clinics.

Cultivation of marijuana would be regulated and a probe undertaken into the nation's police forces to reduce drug-related corruption.

Senator Brown, a trained general practitioner, would at the same time have government agencies monitor the effects of decriminalisation on young people.

Legal products such as alcohol and tobacco would come in for heavy government regulation.

Promotion of tobacco products would be banned and alcohol advertising restricted.

The Greens would introduce mandatory labelling of all alcoholic drinks with health warnings together with the number of standard drinks each bottle or can contained.

According to the Greens, drugs and substance abuse are complex issues, but the public needed to be educated on prescription and non-prescription medication.

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The Greens manifesto backs official supply of the dangerous drug ecstasy as well as state-sanctioned heroin and marijuana sales at what it calls appropriate venues.

The ecstasy policy suggests distributing the drug to users while providing official information detailing the dangers of the drug.

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Greens' drug plan 'is to save lives'
August 31, 2004

GREENS leader Bob Brown today rejected reports that the party supported the supply of illegal drugs over the counter to addicts.

Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper reported the Greens supported the official supply of drugs including ecstasy, state-sanctioned heroin and marijuana at certain outlets.

But Senator Brown said the report was untrue and the newspaper was misrepresenting the Greens' drug policies.

He also accused the Victorian branch of the Liberal Party of circulating similar misinformation about the Greens' policies yesterday.

"When it comes to a review of what best to do about social drugs such as ecstasy, the Greens are saying let's look at that," Senator Brown said.

"We have not said that ecstasy or any other drug should be freely available across the counter.

"We say the alternatives should be investigated."

Prime Minister John Howard yesterday accused the Greens of having a series of kooky policies, including the legalisation of illegal drugs.

Senator Brown said Mr Howard had tried to misrepresent the Greens, which favoured harm minimisation drugs programs.

"The Greens are very responsible about drugs policy, we are looking for improvement in the way drugs policy is delivered in this country," he said.

"I note the Herald Sun says 14 young people have died from ecstasy in recent times, that's because they are getting it from people with dark glasses at the back of halls late at night and we can do better than that.

"The Greens believe that if we can reduce that death toll of young people we should do so.

"And if the prime minster wants to see that as kooky then I'm at a disagreement with him and I'll take him on on drugs policy any day of the week."

AAP

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And if the prime minster wants to see that as kooky then I'm at a disagreement with him and I'll take him on on drugs policy any day of the week

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Legalise ecstasy, says Brown
By Paul Colgan
August 31, 2004

GREENS Leader Bob Brown said today his party supported legalising the possession of small amounts of recreational drugs, including ecstasy.

Senator Brown said the Greens wanted to replace current criminal penalties for drug possession with a regime that tried to prevent drug use by offering help to addicts.

Asked if he wanted to decriminalise the possession of small amounts of drugs for recreational use, Senator Brown said: "Yes, we want to see those folks given medical advice rather than seeing them put in jail."

He said reports that the Greens were planning to introduce over-the-counter drug sales were untrue.

However he said ecstasy should be supplied "with health and medical information", though he could not say how this would be achieved.

"That needs to be looked at," he said. "Let's have an investigation into the options."

In many Australian states, police can issue a caution to adults found in possession of small amounts of cannabis. The Greens' plan, however, would radically loosen the criminal code in relation to personal drug use.

The Greens still supported heavy penalties for drug pushers and smugglers, Senator Brown said. The goal of the policy was to "try to get people off their addiction".

Earlier today, Senator Brown welcomed the results of the latest Newspoll, which showed support for the Greens at 6 per cent nationwide.

More to come…

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One fifth of the world population, 1.3 billion people,
uses tobacco. Only 3% of the world population, which
is less than 0.2 billion people, uses illicit drugs. Tobacco
consumption is thus seven-fold more than illicit drug
use. Comparisons of mortality are even more telling.
The World Health Organization estimates that some
200,000 people died from drug abuse in the year 2000,
equivalent to 0.4% of all deaths worldwide. Tobacco,
however, claimed 25 times as many lives (4.9 million),
equivalent to 8.8% of all deaths.

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