Pubdate: Tue, 05 Oct 1999
Source: Australian, The (Australia)
Copyright: News Limited 1999
Contact:  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/
Author: Roger Martin

MINISTER HOLDS FIRM ON DRUGS HARD LINE

Rhonda Parker was crystal clear yesterday.

"We will not decriminalise cannabis," the minister responsible for the
state's drug policy said.

Yet, despite Mrs Parker's strong words, the Labor Opposition was
congratulating her for moving in that very direction, by considering
extending a year-long drug trial statewide.

The trial in Bunbury and Mirrabooka has seen people caught using small
amounts of cannabis for the first time being cautioned instead of charged,
as long as they agree to attend an education lecture.

The Opposition has applauded the move, arguing the Government is falling
into line with the Labor Party's policy to decriminalise marijuana.

Mrs Parker conceded the scheme, which has attracted little public criticism,
had been successful in the two police districts issuing cautions.

But yesterday she would not accept any suggestion the cautioning system ran
counter to the Government's hard-line rhetoric on illicit drugs.

"There is no mixed message. We will not decriminalise cannabis (and) we have
no intention of doing so," she said.

"But we do intend to look at an effective way to engage users into treatment
and into behavioural change."

Labor's drugs spokesman Alan Carpenter said the extension of the cautioning
system statewide would be a welcome step towards decriminalisation.

"She is saying she is violently opposed to decriminalisation, but in a de
facto sense this is what this is," he said.

Mr Carpenter claimed the success of the trial, which was largely a police
initiative, was trapping the Government in its own rhetoric.

"They must now come to an admission that their ideological rhetoric was not
what was required," he said.

"Now it's confronted with the results of the trial, it does not know what to
do."

Mrs Parker has regularly accused the Labor Party of being soft of drugs, by
endorsing the decriminalisation of cannabis in Western Australia.

She said the cautioning trial, and its possible extension, did not change
the legal status of cannabis.

"It remains illegal and it will continue to do so," Mrs Parker said.

Mrs Parker said a formal assessment of the trial would be undertaken and the
future of the cautioning system would be decided by the end of the year.

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