Pubdate: Wed, 14 Mar 2007
Source: Daily Telegraph (Australia)
Copyright: 2007 News Limited
Contact:  http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/113
Author: Joe Hildebrand and John Rolfe
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

GREEN LEE'S NEVER MET ICE USER

HER Greens party advocates decriminalisation of ice, but Lee Rhiannon 
has never met a user of the deadly drug, dailytelegraph.com.au can reveal.

"I haven't met people who are on ice.," Ms Rhiannon told this website 
in an interview you can hear by clicking on the audio link below right.

"I have heard anecdotal stories from health workers in the main and I 
find that really disturbing."

Earlier in a blog run through dailytelegraph.com.au, Ms Rhiannon had 
dodged a reader question about whether she had "ever seen personnally 
what happens to people high on ice", only saying that she had "heard 
many horrible stories".

Meanwhile, Peter Debnam was using his dailytelegraph.com.au blog to 
reiterate that the Greens should resign over her party's policy 
advocating the decrimininalisation of ice and other drugs.

"Any Member of Parliament who thinks we should de-criminalise drugs, 
including 'Ice', should take a good hard look at themselves, do the 
community a favour, and resign," the Liberal leader writes in his blog.

The blog battle was was triggered by the Greens effectively saying 
that ice junkies should be free to buy as much of the deadly 
substance as they want.

The party yesterday announced it wants to decriminalise all drugs.

In a bizarre defence of the move, the Greens claimed the benefits 
outweighed the dangers of keeping the drug illegal.

And this morning Premier Morris Iemma said: "It is just an absurd, 
ridiculous and disgusting policy."

Any MP who supported such a policy was "completely out of touch with reality".

Voters in a poll on this site agree. Seventy-two per cent of more 
than 2500 voters say the policy would cause "social chaos".

The Greens came under fire in 2003 for their support of 
decriminalising the personal use of drugs.

That was before the ice epidemic hit Sydney, bringing with it a new 
level of drug-related crime and violence.

It has now emerged that the Greens - which thanks to Labor 
preferences may hold the balance of power in the Upper House after 
the election - believe even ice users should not be charged with a 
criminal offence if caught in possession of the drug.

The policy, developed by 50 local Greens groups who then send 
delegates to state council, comes despite acknowledgement of the 
strong links between ice and crime.

"We acknowledge that - and the way to treat it is not locking people 
up - it's about having the program to get them off it," Ms Rhiannon 
said yesterday.

"We certainly acknowledge there's a crime link."

Asked whether it could restrict police in their duties by rendering 
them unable to arrest potentially violent or criminal users, Greens 
campaign co-ordinator Lesa de Leau said: "The benefits far outweigh that."

Mr Debnam said it was an outrage that a political party could support 
the decriminalisation of a deadly drug - or that Labor could support 
a party that did.

"This drug is death to young people and it is undermining a whole 
generation," he said.

"Any elected representative who even suggests access to ice be made 
easier should take a good hard look at themselves and do the 
community a favour and resign."

Mr Debnam also condemned Labor for doing a preference swap with a 
party that held such policies.

ALP secretary Mark Arbib said Labor did not endorse the Greens 
policies but would go ahead with the preference swap nonetheless.

"There will be no watering down of the (Labor) party's tough drug 
laws or positions on other social issues," he said.

The Greens also want to introduce gay awareness material into 
classrooms down to preschool, calling for "the provision of factual 
and affirming materials about sexual orientation, transgender and 
intersex conditions at all levels of the education system".

Ms Rhiannon said children as young as four should be taught about gay 
relationships.

"We support these programs and they would be age specific," she said.

"It's not anything about teaching them to be gay, it's just about how 
the world is."

Companies would also be barred from promoting baby formula in health 
clinics, maternity units would have to be "culturally sensitive" and 
childhood learning would begin from birth as part of the party's 
53-point policy plan.

The party also has a whole policy section headed: "Public education 
must be free from political interference" but said it approved of 
moves by teachers to inform students of the dangers of the 
Government's workplace reforms.

"It's a law, they need to know what the the law is," she said.

"Clearly when WorkChoices is designed to strip down award conditions 
you need to teach that."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman