Source: Canberra Times Author: Peter Clack Contact: Pubdate: Fri, 16 Jan 98 POLICE 'READY TO SOFTEN ON CANNABIS' Decriminalising cannabis could free police to focus on harder drugs, a new report on Australia's illicit drug problem said yesterday. The hard-line approach to all illegal drugs was 'not viable', the chairman of the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence, Victorian Police Commissioner Neil Comrie, said yesterday. He said police across Australia were ready for a trial of a more flexible, harm-minimisation approach. The 176-page Australian Illicit Drug Report, by the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence, reported more than 500 overdose deaths a year, a rise of 700 per cent in just over a decade. It suggests that law enforcement efforts were having 'a limited effect' on the heroin available at street level. The report noted also a growing tolerance for cannabis use in the community, and said decriminalisation could greatly reduce police and legal costs. 'Any moves to decriminalise personal cannabis use and production could result in a big reduction in the resources committed to controlling the drug,' it said. Cannabis was Australia's most popular illicit drug - one third of the adult population having used it - followed by amphetamines. Cannabis accounted for 81 per cent of all drug arrests. Cannabis arrests in Canberra rose 10 per cent last year, compared with a 12 per cent drop in the national average. Mr Comrie said police had to change their tactics to counter a 'vicious cycle of death and tragedy' by leaving users alone, and working up the ladder to the dealers and distributors. The national economic cost of all drug abuse in Australia was more than $18 billion in 1996, and $1.6 billion was directly due to illicit drugs. Law enforcement for drugs cost $450.6 million: $156 million for state and territory police, the National Crime Authority, Australian Federal Police, and the Australian Customs Service, $230.5 million for prisons and $64.1 million for courts. The report lists rises in heroin use, falls in price and higher purity, which had doubled in Sydney between 1992 and 1995. Heroin overdose deaths for the 15 to 44 age group had risen in Australia by '700 per cent' from 1979 to 1995 - most coming after 1992. The reasons given include purer heroin, lifestyle, polydrug use, criminal behaviour, self abuse and neglect. (Canberra equalled Sydney in the highest grade of heroin in Australia.) A typical overdose victim was 30 and with a 12-year history as a drug user. Sydney was the main importation and distribution centre for heroin and other drugs into Australia. The weight of detections at the Customs barriers had doubled last year, yet it was widely available and prices had never been as low. The mean age of dealers had fallen from 30 in 1995 to 25. The Federal Government scrapped the heroin trial in Canberra last year, but put $87.5 million into a three-year anti-drugs police campaign. A quarter of drivers in a Western Australian study tested positive to drugs other than alcohol, cannabis coming second after alcohol. Police success in cracking down on domestic production of amphetamines now meant some users were switching to cheaper and higher quality heroin. Cocaine could also become a substitute for amphetamines, known as speed, if its availability increased. Most amphetamines were produced in Australia and they appeared to be just as available as they were five years ago. But the quality had declined because of the success of precursor legislation, which imposed tighter controls over sale and distribution of the chemicals used in amphetamine manufacture. Mr Comrie said police would continue to take whatever action was needed to combat the illicit drug trade in Australia. 'Just because we are successful in one area and there is a move across to another doesn't mean we should give up in the successful area,' he said. He said the effects of amphetamine abuse were extensive, causing a great deal of pain to the community. That law enforcement has been particularly effective in dealing with that issue ought to be recognised rather than criticised. The Minister for Justice, Amanda Vanstone, said the illicit drugs trade was an industry with profits rivalled by few industries. She said drugs were not new, but the challenge was serious and criminals had access to the latest technology. Police must ensure Australia did not become a dumping ground for the growing supplies of drugs.