Pubdate: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 Source: Australian, The (Australia) Copyright: News Limited 2000 Contact: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/ Author: Rick Langtree PROHIBITION CAUSED CRIME WAVE BILL MUEHLENBERG is wrong -- harm minimisation has not been tried; drug law reform would not increase crime. Muehlenberg's admiration for alcohol prohibition must be noted. We spend unremarked billions a year, not $1.5 billion over four years, to make heroin use even more dangerous. It's called zero tolerance. A meter of practical deterrence ticks over at about three a day. Nobody wants responsibility for syringe distribution to minimise blood disease so it runs slipshod. Evasion pervades drug issues. Possessing personal drug supplies is the main prohibition-related offence. Legalisation should reduce that somewhat. To match illicit profits, taxation would have to be massive. Alcohol prohibition may have been a public health and safety success but it caused a massive crime wave. It was, and remains, a sad day for justice. - --- MAP posted-by: Kirk Bauer