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.
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