I have had contact with heaps of drug users over the last couple of years. Many of them would and do rob their own families and even children in order to support their habit. Many have been through prison and drug rehabiltion places. Truthful people suddenly become habitial liars when taking drugs.

I don't know what you can do with the people already trapped in this curse. Obviously some manage to escape. I know people personally who have suicided and ended up in the nut house by simply smoking dope.

Harm minnimisation to me sends out the message that its okay to take drugs as long as the harm is minnimised. This is a myth. Lives are and will be destroyed by drug taking.

We have to many individuals who want their own little bit of indulgence despite the clear fact that many are going to be harmed by their actions. Stopping kids from falling down the cliff is far easier than picking up the pieces.

Anyone who has walked the streets of Singapore will easily be able to see how a relatively drug free city is different from places such as we see in Holland.

Why dont you people give the illegal drug industry the same brakes as our fine government. How could they profit from the flesh and blood of their victims without government complicity? Our courts and gaols, and the gallows and machine guns of other nations, ensure that the trade of these merchants shall remain precious and valuable. And then there is the side benefit of allowing national networks commercially exploit the trials of unremarkable criminals.

Now then, dont you think that Australian culture has been enriched by the unfolding lives of the Corbys?

'Truthful people suddenly become habitial liars when taking drugs..'

Heh. I'm reminded of South Park:
'Drugs are an illegal narcotic! I've never taken drugs and I'm fine! Now get off my property before I lose my temper and KILL YOU!'

I'd like to point out, in the interest of balance, that runner's claimed experiences with drug users are pretty much the exact opposite of my own.

Apparently runner personally knows dope smokers who have ended up in nut houses. I have been smoking weed for around 7 years, more regularly (and often daily) in the past 2. In that time I have met countless other pot smokers. I'm talking a LOT of people. Not one, at any point, showed any signs of any kind of mental problem. A few were a bit forgetful.

Nor have I known any drug users who were habitual liars (one girlfriend I had turned out to be a compulsive liar - interestingly, she didn't take drugs. I say drugs, she did drink - but apparently we dont count alcohol as a drug for some reason).

I have had -and continue to have- friends who take acid, ecstacy, magic mushrooms, alcohol, nicotine, marijuana, amyl nitrate, dmt, dexamphetamines, methamphetamines, caffeine, and when they get a headache - nurofen plus (that stuff's amaaaazing).

Not *one* of these people, including myself, has ever, ever done the things runner has described. In fairness, he may be talking about addicts - an important distinction from users who are not addicted.

So there you have it, in the interests of balance - an entirely different experience from runners.

Although in my humble opinion, I think he's full of crap.

I think when I become supreme leader of Australia and master to all Peons I will make drug testing compulsory for all walks of life.
I will test the young ones at about the time they start experimenting with drugs.
I would rather catch them before they get addicted , or let them know that they might get caught for just experimenting .
Then cut their goolies off if they test positive, hey you got to be cruel to be kind I say

Part of the problem is that we tend to lump nearly all drugs together, while forgetting about the corrosive effects of the most destructive drug of all: alcohol.

People under the influence of alcohol commit murders, assaults, driving offences, domestic violence and rapes.

People actually under the influence of heroin simply relax and more or less go to sleep.

People under the influence of a heroin don't commit crimes whilst they are drug effected. Heroin has a less harmful effect on the human body than alcohol. They commit crimes to get it, or supply it.

I can already hear people yelling that I am an heretic and someone who wants to legalise drugs.

Yes and no:

Cocaine - extremely harmful, no 'safe' theraputic dose, can kill. Should be fought against with more force than the law currently can apply.

Ecstacy - also no safe theraputic dose - should be fought against.

Cannibis: causes mental illness, should not be decriminalised.

Heroin - perhaps it should be sold in bottle shops and chemists in single shot syringes for around $10.00. take the crime out of it, put it on the same basis as booze. Make it available in measured and relatively safe doses and lets all get along with our lives.

Or if you are going to prohibit heroin, take the next step and do the same for alcohol: good luck!

Just remember what drug actually kills more than any other: nicotene in cigarettes - double good luck in getting that banned.

My own experience with drugs may be somewhat closer to runners (although I've also known a huge amount of recreational dope smokers who do not seem off the rails). A very close family member of mine ruined his life with heroin. Heroin addicts generally can only focus on the next hit. While they may realise the damage they are causing to themselves and their loved ones, this cannot overcome the urge for the next hit.

It is for this reason that I support, whole heartedly, a harm minimisation approach and a shift on drug policy. Drug use should be treated as a health problem. Users and addicts need to be offered treatment, not be put in jail.

The reason I think this is that, over years of being around people using drugs, I have never seen any indication that the "tough on drugs approach" works. From my friends in high school smoking dope, my pill popping flatmate, right through to my ill-fated family member, the thoughts of the illegality of their actions never stoped their drug use, even when they got caught. Harm minimisation deals with reality.

There is lots of evidence that supports harm minimisation approachs. Califonia has had for the last few years, a treatment instead of incarceration policy. This policy saved the state money, reduced drug related crime and got many users into treatment program.

Meanwhile, crime and street shooting have dropped in Kings Cross in Sydney since the implementation of the medically superviser injecting center, along with no indication of a honey pot effect (see the NSW bureau of crime stats paper on this http://www.sydneymsic.com/Bginfo.htm).

The war on drugs doesn't work. As one who's been at the coal face, I highly commend this article. Keep the 3 Reductions: Supply, Demand and Harm.