Pubdate: Tue, 27 Jul 2004
Source: West Australian (Australia)
Copyright: 2004 West Australian Newspapers Limited
Contact:  http://www.thewest.com.au
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/495
Author: Damien Loveland
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n1057/a07.html

COURAGEOUS DRUG MOVE

I applaud the State Government and the police for having the courage
to forge ahead with a sensible approach to the drug crisis (Secret
soft turn on hard drugs, 26/7). Our youth are only experimenting with
an increasingly confusing world that we've given them. With the
backdrop of legal drugs costing the taxpayer a fortune, it is good
that we are exploring new avenues in handling these problems.

Given the high proportion of school-aged drug users, I find it hard to
believe that we are dealing with an epidemic of criminal adolescents.
This is a social issue that needs to be handled a lot more
intelligently than our criminal system can deliver, with the added
benefit that an intelligent approach is likely to be a lot cheaper.

A lot of young people do not understand the impact and consequences
involved, just as the social impact of tobacco and alcohol was never
fully appreciated in the context of modern society. A high-impact
education campaign enlightening users to the consequences of what they
are indulging in is the way forward.

Our youth are smart enough to do the maths themselves. Eventually,
when we have an old-age home full of dementia and mentally ill illicit
drug users, this education campaign will be at its most effective. It
is an outdated concept that a hard hand or harsh penalties curb
people's behaviour. The understanding that you cannot force people to
do something is a notion we've embraced at a parenting level but we
are yet to effectively apply it to the social, workplace and
international equivalents. Dialogue, education and communication so
that people can make their own informed decisions with acceptance of
their consequences is the way forward.

Our police services need to focus their activities on catching the big
fish in the drug industry. Without doing this we create a never-ending
money earner for the police, State Government and organised crime. If
the penalties are lucrative enough you soon have the State Government
losing focus on the issue and seeing only the revenue, as with the
speed cameras. 
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MAP posted-by: Josh