DECRIMINALISATION PROPOSAL WILL SHARPLY INCREASE DRUG USE
(. . . and increase all the mental health issues they cause)
As the Queensland Government contemplates, via its Mental Health Commission, proposals to decriminalise the use of heroin, ice, speed, cocaine and ecstasy, Drug Free Australia is warning that decriminalisation, and the sharply increased drug use it always encourages, flies in the face of the almost unanimous Australian disapproval of these drugs and their use.
The 2019 National Drug Strategy Household Survey of 25,000 Australians shows that 99% do not approve the use of heroin, ice or speed, 97% do not approve the use of cocaine, 96% the use of ecstasy and 80% the use of cannabis. This high disapproval of drug use by Australians comes from experience – 43% of Australians having used illicit drugs in their past.
Drug Free Australia’s submission to the Queensland Mental Health Commission challenges a Commission consultation paper promoting the Portugal model which had decriminalised the use of heroin, ice and other illicits while adding more treatment availability in maintenance programs and rehabilitation. The problem with Portugal is that it has not worked, indicating that treatment without the sanction of criminal penalties only encourages more drug use – after decriminalising all drugs in 2001, Portugal’s drug use had increased 59%, drug-related deaths increased by 59% and use by high-school minors increased by 60%. These very large increases contrast with the very large decreases under the Australian Federal Government’s Tough on Drugs policy between 1998 and 2007, where use of those drugs which Portugal tracks fell by 42% here, with drug-related deaths decreasing 67%. Sweden, by prioritising drug rehab while still maintaining criminal penalties, reduced its drug use by 86% between 1973 and 1987.
Australian disapproval of drug use most certainly indicates that we do not want policies that will increase the use of the drugs we disapprove. Undoubtedly Australians want less drug use, not more. The proposals before the Mental Health Commission have a track record – more drugs, not less. Because of the well-established impacts of drug use on mental health where cannabis, amongst other drug types is actually causal (50% of new psychosis/schizophrenia diagnoses in Amsterdam each year are from cannabis use), the Queensland Government must reject any measures that increase drug use and its associated mental health issues. Drug Policy Reform must help Queensland do better, not worse.
Gary Christian
RESEARCH DIRECTOR
Drug Free Australia
0422 163 141