Celebs drug-users 'getting off lightly'
By Jane Bunce
March 05, 2008 05:13pm
TREATING drug-taking celebrities leniently encourages young Australians to abuse drugs, the UN has warned.
A major report from the UN drug watchdog, the International Narcotics Control Board, has also expressed concern that amphetamine and marijuana use in Australia is among the highest in the world.
The annual report, released today, analyses worldwide trends in drug abuse, trafficking and control efforts.
It has called for governments to apply drug laws "proportionately", ensuring traffickers receive greater punishments and focus than users, and celebrities caught using drugs are not treated more leniently than others.
Australian board member Major Brian Watters said high-profile Australians with substance abuse problems were often glorified, which could encourage young people to think drugs were glamorous.
There had been so many revelations in recent times of drug use among entertainers and players of various football codes, said Maj Watters, chairman of the Australian National Council on Drugs.
Young men often considered sports stars to be heroes and could be encouraged to use drugs if their role models appeared to be getting away with it, he said.
Without naming him, Maj Watters gave the example of fallen AFL star Ben Cousins, who has been banned from the game for a year over substance abuse problems.
Cousins was sacked by West Coast last year after Perth police laid two drug-related charges against him, which were later dropped.
Cousins then went for treatment at "what was almost a holiday ranch" in the US, Maj Watters said, but has since re-entered the community.
"That was a great disservice to that young man, (and) it certainly gives a message that it's alright to use (drugs)," Maj Watters said.
Celebrity users – like any other users – should be brought before the courts, but given the option of treatment instead of a conviction, he said.
Director of Australia's UN information centre, Abdullah Saleh Mbamba, said the rise of digital media and the internet meant celebrity behaviour had become more public.
"They (celebrities) do tend to get away very leniently compared to other people," he said.
The report also raised concerns that "the abuse of cannabis and amphetamine-type stimulants in Oceania is among the highest in the world".
"We know it's high... and we know that it's increased," Major Watters said.
"That's part of a worldwide trend of course but it seems to be disproportionate the way it's grown in Australia."
Most amphetamines used were manufactured locally, with precursor chemicals smuggled in largely from South-East Asia.
Motorbike gangs were linked to manufacture in several states, including Queensland and NSW, the report said.
"In Australia, Queensland seems to be the base of (amphetamine) clandestine manufacturing, which supplies the whole country," the report said.
Most cannabis used in Australia was grown in the country, although some was smuggled in from Papua New Guinea.
About 280 clandestine amphetamine laboratories had been dismantled in 2005-06, but Maj Watters said the problem with shutting down production was that a laboratory could be packed into a suitcase, and precursors themselves were not illegal.
Australia had much more success controlling other drugs such as heroin and cocaine, he said.
The report also found Oceania was increasingly being used as a smuggling hub for drugs, particularly "vulnerable" island nations that were geographically remote, had porous maritime borders and relatively weak control measures.
Cocaine from South America was being transited through Oceania, Maj Watters said.
