Albert Einstein has been reported as saying that insanity is repeating an action over and over again, and expecting different outcomes. If we are to accept this premise as true, then drug prohibition and its subsequent drug war is the craziest aspect of the governance of this country, and that’s saying something.
The insanity of throwing people in jails for doing things that affect no one else, while not affecting drug use whatsoever, is something we haven’t quite come to terms with yet. If we had, then the laws ruling us would have been changed by politicians seeking our votes. The general perception of modern western democracy, of which Australia is a proud upholder, is that it is antithesis to the Orwellian governments of the famous novel Nineteen Ninety-Four, but one would only need to look at the cells filled with those who had been jailed for minding their own business, to see we’re not as far away as we think we are.
Since the early days of the racially-driven anti-Chinese immigrant opium restriction laws of the 1930s, and throughout the draconic criminalisation of today, our governments have been high on power, but banning most other drugs. For too long decision makers have used prohibition as a smoke screen to hide their personal prejudice, and lust for intruding on the lives on their constituents, and disseminating that prejudice down the line into the public school system, legitimising authoritarian state control. No wonder releasing the stranglehold of the drug laws is such a sensitive area in Australian political discourse.
It’s a well-established fact that prohibition has done very little to lower the drug use statistics in this country. However, the sad thing is that the unintended consequences of the drug laws wreak a devastating toll on the very parts of society it supposedly attempts to help. Prohibition creates a lucrative black market that plagues low-socioeconomic areas like the south-west of Perth and Western Sydney, and lures young people into lives of crime. Being an illegal drugs user is very expensive habit, and so both logic and reality dictates that some dependent users in those areas resort to stealing to raise funds (accounting for 40% of Australian property crime). Most of the violence associated with illegal drug dealing is simply due to its outlawed nature.
Laws criminalising syringe possession, and the nature of underground drug use and sales, encourage needle sharing and perpetuates the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C. Hundreds of young people, the same ones the state prohibitionists claim to protect, die from drug overdoses or poisonings by adulterants every year, most of their deaths preventable through the quality-controlled market that would exist if drugs were legal. All this is while the “war” racks up hundreds of millions of dollars on the taxpayer’s expense in enforcement efforts.
Australia’s 80-year love affair with legislating on personal drug use, and voluntary drug trade, has proved to be an absolute failure, and yet we see more drug criminalisation and punishment bills being put in front of both federal and state houses, and often passing with bipartisan support. Our state is one of the worst offenders, as Colin Barnett seeks to enhance his reputation as a “law and order” premier.
However one of the more worrying developments has been the passing of the Drug Crimes Legislation Bill late last year, which has taken drug laws in this country to a new low.
This new law allows the federal Government to declare drugs illegal simply by the decree of a minister or a subordinate ministerial staffer. The Attorney-General or Minister for Justice will not have to introduce legislation to amend the relevant Criminal Code Act of 1995, which currently contains lists of the substances banned in the country. These lists are replaced by this recent legislation and instead a minister may simply declare a drug illegal for a probationary period of 18 months. The requirement for making such a declaration is mainly based on the supposed negative side-effects the substance has on the user and “the risk to the community”, a favourite play-phrase of every nanny statist politician.
Government legislations rarely work, and that is a fact of life. A favourite quote of mine is by former US congressman Ron Paul, where he suggested the title of legislative bill put in front of him, was opposite to the ensuing result. To those reading this doubting that society could survive without prohibition, I say believe in freedom, it works.
After just over a decade of drug legalisation, Portugal has witnessed an unprecedented drop in the number of addicts, and the proportion of drug abuse, the number of infections from needles, as well as a significant decrease in drug-related crimes. Doctors and health experts in Portugal have unanimously praised the decision to free drugs of their criminality. This should come as no surprise to those that understand the ideas behind political and social liberty and its implications, and how Portugal’s example can be used to expand freedom in other countries. By following a policy mix of legalisation, harm reduction, and treatment, Portugal has shown how not treating drug users as low-life criminals will not result in the end of civilisation as we know it.
Your move, people of Australia.
The insanity of throwing people in jails for doing things that affect no one else, while not affecting drug use whatsoever, is something we haven’t quite come to terms with yet. If we had, then the laws ruling us would have been changed by politicians seeking our votes. The general perception of modern western democracy, of which Australia is a proud upholder, is that it is antithesis to the Orwellian governments of the famous novel Nineteen Ninety-Four, but one would only need to look at the cells filled with those who had been jailed for minding their own business, to see we’re not as far away as we think we are.
Since the early days of the racially-driven anti-Chinese immigrant opium restriction laws of the 1930s, and throughout the draconic criminalisation of today, our governments have been high on power, but banning most other drugs. For too long decision makers have used prohibition as a smoke screen to hide their personal prejudice, and lust for intruding on the lives on their constituents, and disseminating that prejudice down the line into the public school system, legitimising authoritarian state control. No wonder releasing the stranglehold of the drug laws is such a sensitive area in Australian political discourse.
It’s a well-established fact that prohibition has done very little to lower the drug use statistics in this country. However, the sad thing is that the unintended consequences of the drug laws wreak a devastating toll on the very parts of society it supposedly attempts to help. Prohibition creates a lucrative black market that plagues low-socioeconomic areas like the south-west of Perth and Western Sydney, and lures young people into lives of crime. Being an illegal drugs user is very expensive habit, and so both logic and reality dictates that some dependent users in those areas resort to stealing to raise funds (accounting for 40% of Australian property crime). Most of the violence associated with illegal drug dealing is simply due to its outlawed nature.
Laws criminalising syringe possession, and the nature of underground drug use and sales, encourage needle sharing and perpetuates the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C. Hundreds of young people, the same ones the state prohibitionists claim to protect, die from drug overdoses or poisonings by adulterants every year, most of their deaths preventable through the quality-controlled market that would exist if drugs were legal. All this is while the “war” racks up hundreds of millions of dollars on the taxpayer’s expense in enforcement efforts.
Australia’s 80-year love affair with legislating on personal drug use, and voluntary drug trade, has proved to be an absolute failure, and yet we see more drug criminalisation and punishment bills being put in front of both federal and state houses, and often passing with bipartisan support. Our state is one of the worst offenders, as Colin Barnett seeks to enhance his reputation as a “law and order” premier.
However one of the more worrying developments has been the passing of the Drug Crimes Legislation Bill late last year, which has taken drug laws in this country to a new low.
This new law allows the federal Government to declare drugs illegal simply by the decree of a minister or a subordinate ministerial staffer. The Attorney-General or Minister for Justice will not have to introduce legislation to amend the relevant Criminal Code Act of 1995, which currently contains lists of the substances banned in the country. These lists are replaced by this recent legislation and instead a minister may simply declare a drug illegal for a probationary period of 18 months. The requirement for making such a declaration is mainly based on the supposed negative side-effects the substance has on the user and “the risk to the community”, a favourite play-phrase of every nanny statist politician.
Government legislations rarely work, and that is a fact of life. A favourite quote of mine is by former US congressman Ron Paul, where he suggested the title of legislative bill put in front of him, was opposite to the ensuing result. To those reading this doubting that society could survive without prohibition, I say believe in freedom, it works.
After just over a decade of drug legalisation, Portugal has witnessed an unprecedented drop in the number of addicts, and the proportion of drug abuse, the number of infections from needles, as well as a significant decrease in drug-related crimes. Doctors and health experts in Portugal have unanimously praised the decision to free drugs of their criminality. This should come as no surprise to those that understand the ideas behind political and social liberty and its implications, and how Portugal’s example can be used to expand freedom in other countries. By following a policy mix of legalisation, harm reduction, and treatment, Portugal has shown how not treating drug users as low-life criminals will not result in the end of civilisation as we know it.
Your move, people of Australia.