POLICE Commissioner Barry Matthews' delight in the number of responses to Crimestoppers' Drug Dealer Day puts into question what the agenda was in the first place. Are police targeting the Mr Bigs of the drug world or is the war on drugs actually a war on drug users? Many drug addicts maintain their dependence by purchasing quite small amounts, making up even smaller portions to sell to friends and associates to recover their purchase money, and using the surplus themselves to feed their drug habit. They are user-dealers, not traffickers, and make no profit from their transactions besides the drugs they personally use. [continues 154 words]
GEOFF GALLOP responded to the two weekend bashings of elderly Perth residents by talking about drug policy (Drug stand linked to attacks, 3/5). Like many others, he assumed the offenders were drug addicts. The cowardly attacks on elderly people are being committed by people with living problems, not drug problems, yet all too often they are labelled as drug-related crimes. Yes, they buy drugs, but in most cases they buy drugs to party with, not because they are addicts. [continues 64 words]
THE two main points of Norman Aisbett's report A trial for life (Big Weekend, 28/11) were that naltrexone is a miracle drug and that Dr George O'Neil is a saint. However, neither claim holds up to scrutiny when it is compared with results of a symposium on naltrexone held only three weeks ago in Sydney in conjunction with the National Methadone Conference. Dr James Bell, one of Australia's leading lights on addiction studies, paints a different picture of treatment from that of Dr O'Neil. He quotes horrendous retention rates, with 30 per cent to 50 per cent of addicts dropping out in the first two weeks. [continues 249 words]
