I read an article yesterday by Greg Dunham, who's a former member of Victoria Police and the Australian representative for the US-based Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.

His articles promote a stance of legalisation of all illicit drugs.
(The headline below says 'decriminalise' but the article itself says 'legalise'.)

http://www.theage.com.au/comment/decriminalise-and-call-a-halt-to-the-war-on-drugs-20160331-gnvoho.html

Here's another article by Greg from last year:

http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-war-on-drugs-is-long-lost-so-why-are-we-still-fighting-20151008-gk45r5.html

I'll agree the US 'War on Drugs' model has some serious issues.

And whilst I personally believe there are compelling reasons to decriminalise recreational cannabis use, (I believe there should be a option to alcohol in the matter of domestic violence and relationship breakdowns) I'm not in any way convinced its a good idea to legalise amphetamines or ICE.

This story gets interesting because there is a push from some of the worlds richest people to legalise drugs, and one suspects the primary motivating factor is profits, not necessarily whats good for society.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/2/billionaire-george-soros-turns-cash-into-legalized/?page=all

Big-Pharma has also been getting involved by getting access to seed banks of cannabis and genetically modifying them.

http://www.encod.org/info/The-Connection-Between-The.html

I don't understand how Greg can claim to be able to move to a regulated and controlled system of accessing currently illicit drugs when they can't really control what's out there now, and especially if they intend to reduce the penalties for doing so.

Also, I'm not sure the idea of regional towns in Australia complete with free syringes, shooting galleries and legalised drug sales are in the interests of regional Australians.

And finally, I'm not sure that it feels right for the government to take a stand where drug users are criminals one day, and cash-cows the next with the government itself becoming the drug dealer.

What do others think?

G'day there ARMCHAIR CRITIC...

I couldn't agree with you more. That said, with all the best intentions, adopting new and differing strategies, implementing all these 'heavy hitters' in various police Task Forces, I'm convinced, we as a society, simply cannot 'arrest our way' out of this war on drug use?

As an example, Long Bay Gaol in Sydney, is awash with all manner of hard drugs, ably led by violent Lebanese Gangs, with their arch rivals, the outlaw Bikies closely following on. If the authorities can't control and stem the trafficking of hard drugs into a maximum security institution, what possible chance do they have in an open society? I know what the problem is and how to fix it! However that's for another day, and a different topic altogether.

Therefore I completely agree with the sentiments expressed by Mr John SYLVESTER on a Melbourne Radio Station, how 'Ice' represented one of the greatest challenges to society, the government, and police, in the last half century of serious drug interdiction. As such, authorities must be prepared to confront some really ugly crimes, as a result of expanding 'Ice' use, according to Mr SYLVESTER, to which I heartily concur?

We should all be concerned about our laws on illegal
drugs because they affect all of us - people who use drugs,
who have family members using drugs, health professionals
seeing people for drug-related problems: ambulance and police
officers in the front line of drug harms: and all of us who
pay high insurance premiums because drug-related crime is
so intensive.

Whether big-business is behind the push to legalise illicit
drugs - I don't know. Would legalisation take the huge
profits out of the hands of criminals and into the coffers
of pharmaceutical companies? The stats don't indicate that.
Neither do they indicate that legalisation will take the
huge profits into government coffers to finance rehabilitation
programs for those in need.

Would legalisation save lives by dispensing drugs with
their strength and potency clearly marked on their
containers and thereby avoid accidental overdoses.
It possibly may help.

Legalisation would prevent users from administering
poisonous and deadly mixer substances which can cause serious
bodily harm and even death.

Also legalisation would allow addicts to buy drugs without
having to resort to crime or violence and police and
authorities could then focus on other priorities.

This is a complicated issue. But whether Big-Business is
behind the push to legalise illicit drugs - as I stated
earlier - I'm not so sure. However it's a debate worth having.
More research needs to be done. The National Drug and
Alcohol Research Centre at the UNSW (University of New South
Wales) is one place doing it.

If idiots want to poison themselves, why should I need to finance through my tax-money their policing, prosecution and incarceration?

Let them poison themselves as much as they like and hopefully they will soon be 6 foot under.

You all make great points,

I don't think we're ever going to arrest our way out of the problem as O Sung Wu points out.
That's a given.

I think legalisation might help as Foxy suggests to avoid unexpected overdoses from drugs where the potency is too high or the cocktail of chemicals is dangerous.
(Though I think if people still have to purchase them then some will still commit crimes to get the money.) I do think however that the vast majority of people who use drugs probably don't engage in any criminal activity apart from the taking of those drugs themselves.

Yuyutsu says why should he pay?
And it's a perfectly reasonable question.
- Maybe there's a valid discussion over the government selling say the lesser evil cannabis to fill their coffers so they can have better funding to manage the ICE problem better, I don't know.

Whilst I'm keen to hear O Sung Wu's ideas I myself don't know what the answer is, though I do accept that finding the right solution, or the solution to best manage the problem is a very complicated issue, and I look forward to hearing some of these ideas.

Thanks everyone for your comments.

I get the whiff of a conspiracy theory.

While I support the legalization of marijuana, as it has clear therapeutic value, and the harm caused by its abuse is minimal compared to alcohol or smoking. However, I can't foresee drugs that cause real harm and death, like heroin or ice, becoming freely available over the counter. As cannabis is easily grown by small business, I don't see any real advantage for big business, or is this just another beat up on the bogie man?