No matter which way you look at it, drugs cause immeasurable damage to individuals, families and communities. As such, governments and law enforcement have a strict responsibility to ensure all measures are taken to reduce illicit drug use. This includes bringing those who do the wrong thing to justice.
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Traditionally, this has centred on the notion of 'do the crime, pay the time'. In many respects, this still holds up. But considering the insidious nature of drug use and the devastating and widespread impacts it continues to have, a renewed line of thinking is now focusing more on prevention, rather than a cure. Or, in the case of the latest campaign from the Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Council of Tasmania, the idea of support, not punishment.
The peak body has called for the decriminalisation of drugs - it's something that will immediately trigger alarm bells for many, particularly at face value. However, it's important to recognise that decriminalisation is not the same as legalisation. Rather, it is an approach where criminal penalties for the use and/or personal possession of small quantities of illicit drugs are removed.
At its core the concept aims to promote drug policy reform, and to change laws which impede access to health interventions. Described as an often "misunderstood approach", ATDC Tasmania chief executive Alison Lai says decriminalisation has the potential to deliver significant improvements to the health of people who use drugs. It can also save money.
Tasmania makes significant investments in law enforcement, but still drug use runs rampant in communities. While similar to recent conversations had around pill testing, the state government's position on decriminalisation remains unchanged: there is no safe use of illicit drugs.
However, it's clear it's going to take significant systematic and cultural change if the burden of illicit drug use is ever going to be truly lifted. The ATDC argues we can no longer continue on as we are by trying to arrest our way out of this problem. It's a health issue that warrants a health-focused response. But will the government listen?
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