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ACT 2010 Drug Action Week Launch
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The
address to launch Drug Action Week in the ACT was given by Dr Ken Crispin,
the recently retired Supreme
Court judge of the Australian Capital Territory . He was appointed President
of the ACT Court of Appeal in 2001. He was first admitted to the Bar in
1972 and appointed as a Queens Counsel in 1988. He was the ACT Director
of Public Prosecutions during 1991-94 and President of the ACT Bar Association
during 1996-97. He has been Chairperson of the ACT Law Reform Commission since
1996 and Chairperson of the ACT Criminal Law Consultative Committee since
1998.
In
his address he said this:
"During the last four decades, western governments have waged what has been
described as a war on drugs. New offences have been created, penalties have been
massively increased, law-enforcement bodies have been given new powers, and hundreds
of thousands of people have been arrested and sent to prison. Politicians and senior
officials have constantly told us that they are winning the war, that the
flow of drugs into our countries is being stemmed by the rigorous enforcement of the law, and that sooner or
later the problem will be wholly overcome. I wish I could believe them. I wish I could
believe that narcotics and other dangerous drugs will one day be driven out of our lands
like St Patrick is said to have driven the snakes out of Ireland. I wish I could believe that
there will be no more need for rehabilitation programs, that the courts will see no more
drug dependent offenders and that I will never have to attend any more funerals for young
people who were little more than children when their lives ended in misery and squalor.
Read
the full text of his speech here>>
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The heroin trial10 years on: how politics
killed hope
by Dr Alex Wodak
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Ten years ago, on 19 August 1997, Federal Cabinet at the behest of Prime
Minister John Howard aborted a proposed scientific trial to evaluate the
effectiveness of prescription heroin as a treatment for heroin dependence. Six
years of careful scientific research work was trashed.
Cabinet claimed the heroin trial was abandoned because it would have ''sent
the wrong message''. After the meeting, two Cabinet members (Peter Reith,
Judith Moylan) breached the Westminster tradition by telling waiting reporters
that Cabinet had erred.
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Worrying signs of health in ACT jail.
By Bill Bush
Published in The Canberra Times 1 June 2007
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THERE is real doubt that the ACT community and its politicians are aware of
all they are acquiring with their new humanrights-compliant jail.
Much is made of ceasing transportation to NSW and taking responsibility for
our own prisoners, of providing more ready access by families to detainees and
of providing opportunities for local businesses. The mere establishment of a
jail in the ACT will achieve these objectives. The problem is whether the
project will meet its other most important objectives: rehabilitation and a
safer ACT community. Paying lip service to human rights will not bring this
about.
Read the full
article here>>
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Cries of futility in dead ends of drug policy
By Neil Lade
Published in the Canberra Times 22 October 2006
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Lost in an empty ring, going round in circles. Where
words drift into nothing and there's no escape from deja vu. Just blinding
stupor in a tunnel of darkness. And deep behind dark glasses no one can see my
tears.
It's another time of year when futility struggles with
reality. When I'm drawn somewhat reluctantly to Weston Park in Yarralumla -
and wounds gape again. It's last Monday, and I'm back for the ACT Families and
Friends for Drug Law Reform's 11th Annual Remembrance Ceremony for those who
lose their life to illicit drugs.
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Focus must be
parenting, not framework to micro-manage
Bill Bush
Published in the Canberra Times on Wednesday 27 September 2006, p. 13
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The deaths of three more babies from families known to child protection authorities (CT, 22 Sept. p. 1) rightly dismays us all. A firestorm of fury is an understandable response but it is essential that we take stock of the facts.
..........
The Australia-wide crisis in child protection has brought the system across
the country to its knees. It is getting worse rather than better ......
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PRISON,
DRUGS AND MENTAL ILLNESS: MUST THEY ALWAYS GO TOGETHER? Transcript
of an 21 June 2006 Drug Action Week address by Father Peter Norden,
policy director of Jesuit Social Services, Adjunct Professor in the School of
Social Science and Planning at RMIT University, national board member of ACOSS
(Australian Council of Social Service) and the Convenor of the Victorian
Criminal Justice Coalition.
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“We
have dramatic changes taking place within our Australian society at the
present time.
Growing prosperity for many, poor distribution of resources, and
increased alienation and growing disadvantage for many Australian communities.
It is about time that we learnt that the only effective intervention with such
young people is a holistic program that engages the young person as an
individual and does not just focus on their drug usage or their mental
illness. Our present way of responding to illicit drug use in our community
needs dramatic rethinking.”
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Introduction
to Australian Parliamentary Group Public Meeting, Parliament House Canberra, 2
Dec 2005
by Brian McConnell
pdf copy available here
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Introductory
talk to APGDLR public meeting held on the day that Nguyen Tuong Van, an
Australian citizen, was executed by the Singapore government for trafficking
396 grams of heroin through Singapore to Australia.
Agenda
and other speeches where available can be found at adlrf.org
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Prism
of political correctness still distorting drugs issue
by
Bill Bush
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Published in the Canberra Times, Wednesday, November 9, 2005
If drug addiction is best understood as a psychological
problem than a lifestyle issue, why do we continue to treat drug
abuse primarily in a criminal law rather than primarily in a
health context?
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New
drug laws reflect badly on Government
by Brian McConnell
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(Published in The Canberra Times on 17 March 2005)
Although aimed at drug traffickers and serious drug offenders,
the new ACT cannabis laws effective from 6 March, in fact widens the net and
can impose draconian penalties on young people experimenting in or addicted to
the drug. Parents who want their kids to survive their experimenting years
without the burden of a criminal record, should be concerned about the
implications of these changes
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No silver
bullet for drug abuse
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Advocates of zero tolerance ignore its side effects says
Brian McConnell
Published
in The Canberra Times 24 September 2004
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New
approaches to drug policy - Dare we try?
Brian McConnell, President, Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform.
Published in DrugInfo, Vol2 No 3 February 2004
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What does a family do when it loses a member to drugs?
Reactions of families can be different. For some, understandably, the shame
and stigma associated with illegal drug use will guarantee their silence,
others believe we have not tried hard enough and want tougher laws,. Neither
effectively contribute to reducing the harm.
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Many
Questions Unanswered in Drug Report
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Expert evidence contradicts some of its conclusions, writes Bill Bush.
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Injecting room
put off again
Bill Bush deplores the continued
shilly-shallying.
Published in the Canberra Times on Monday 22 December
2003
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It is hard not to be cynical of politicians in the light of the ACT
Government's decision announced by the Health Minister, Simon Corbell, to
reconsign the establishment of a medically supervised injecting facility to
the indefinite future.
In 1999 Kate Carnell's Liberal Government went out on a limb: it introduced
and enacted with ALP support legislation to allow for a trial. The issue came
up again in the next budget which a couple of independents who normally
supported the Liberal Government opposed because of the injecting facility.
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Zero Tolerance
in a Modern Community:
how to recognise the zealot
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An address by Bill Bush of Families and Friends for Drug Law
Reform
at the Community Forum, "Society's Treatment of Drug
Users"
Brunswick Street Mall Rotunda, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane
Thursday, 26 June 2003
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Enlightened minds needed to solve the drugs
dilemma by Bill Bush
Published in the Canberra Times 10 June 2003
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Bill Bush says the highly charged moral and political
atmosphere surrounding drugs challenges the choice of the best
interventions. Drugs constitute the greatest social issue facing the
nation. This is the verdict of Peter Costello, the thwarted Liberal
leader in the Press last week. They are "every parent's
nightmare", he added. In contrast, the ACT Police believe that
"the scoreboard is starting to show some runs" (The
Canberra Times, May 24). There's nothing like a few big seizures to
buoy spirits.
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Thinking
about drugs policy: some
core concepts that might underpin the next stage of Australia’s National Drug
Strategy by David
McDonald
Consultant in Social Research & Evaluation
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This is
a PowerPoint presentation made to the Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform
meeting at Canberra on 22 May 2003 |
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One policy Australia cannot afford to abandon. by Brian
McConnell. |
Prime Minister Howard is opposed to it. Bronwyn Bishop says that it is
dead. Bureaucrats have tried to define it away. Philip Emafo,
President of the International Narcotics Control Board says it is a
distraction from ridding the world of drugs.
But harm minimisation is far from dead. |
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John Howard might take comfort from the current heroin
drought, argues Brian McConnell, but things are different on the
streets. - Published in the Canberra Times 8/4/2002.
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International
Drug Control - Book reviews |
William B. McAllister, Drug diplomacy in the
twentieth century: an international history (Routledge, London &
New York, 2000) 344pp incl bibliograhy & index. Price: $57.20
International Crisis Group, Central Asia: Drugs and Conflict (ICG
Asia Report, no. 25) 26 November 2001 37pp at http://www.crisisweb.org/projects/showreport.cfm?reportid=495
Reviewer: Bill Bush |
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The
Australian heroin drought:
The case for an inquiry into its causes and the flood of
methamphetamines by
Bill Bush
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The article disputes the claim by the Federal Government
that Australian law enforcement financed by its Tough on Drugs
Strategy was primarily responsible for the heroin drought and
resulting fall in overdose deaths. Law enforcement agencies – notably
the Australian Federal Police through its Commissioner – have revealed
intelligence to the effect that Asian crime syndicates have assessed
that there is a large and very profitable market in Australia for
amphetamine-like drugs and that they have made a marketing decision to
promote them rather than heroin. |
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The
waning of clear thinking in decision making: The case of the heroin trial and the effect of law enforcement on the
supply of drugs by
Bill Bush |
This paper
examines how irrationality, including the rejection of scientific
method, characterises much of the drug debate. Examples include
misquoting or misinterpreting the results of research. Certainty is
often hard to come by in social science. Thus in the case of drug
policy, we should be guided by the weight of evidence from research or
other sources. This principle is frequently ignored in the drug debate.
The article uses the Swiss heroin trial and the relationship of law
enforcement to the causes of the Australian heroin drought as case
studies to examine these themes. |
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Clean society goal an
admirable but unrealistic goal |
The promotion of a drug-free world, though laudable, can
never be a reachable objective, argues Brian McConnell |
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An
anniversary to regret: 40 years of failure of the Single Convention on
Narcotic Drugs by
Bill Bush
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30 March is the 40th anniversary of the Single Convention on
Narcotic Drugs, a multilateral treaty consolidating drug treaties going
back to 1912. It is part of a prolonged international effort to eliminate
the abuse of opium and other drugs. Seen as the solution, the 1961
convention soon showed itself inadequate. |
| On
Reinventing Drug Education, Especially for Adolescents by Rodney
Skager, Professor Emeritus, Graduate School of Education and Information
Studies, University of California, Los Angeles |
.....a recent international study my country scored highest among
Western nations in rates of teenage marijuana use. In other words, what
can be learned from a nation in which one third more adolescents smoke
weed than do their teenage peers in laissez-faire Holland?
Paper prepared for the 2nd International Conference on
Drugs & Young People, Melbourne, Australia, 4-6 April, 2001. |
Lost
vision in drought of heroin
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Heroin supply in Australia has almost dried
up. For years this is exactly what law enforcement has been trying to
achieve. The underlying assumption is that when supplies are cut off
there will be no drug problem. The solution to the drug problem should
therefore be in sight – but is it?
Its time to move the focus in drug policy from law enforcement to
health, says Brian McConnell |
Council
toothless in war on drugs
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The Australian National Council on Drugs has been in
operation for almost three years and the terms of its members are up for
renewal next month. Just what has the ANCD achieved in those three
years?
The zero-tolerance approach has failed to reduce overdose deaths, writes
Brian McConnell |
Rough Justice for All
By Crispin Hull, Deputy Editor, The Canberra Times
Source: CANBERRA TIMES 26/08/2000 P3
(c) 2000 The Canberra Times. |
IT TAKES a
long time to turn public opinion and understanding, even on obvious things. It has taken
500 years for almost everyone to understand that the world is round and goes around the
sun. After more than 150 years perhaps a bare majority understands the basics of
evolution. But turn it does. After 20 years in America, opinion is slowly turning on crime
and punishment. |
Rhetoric
won't halt deaths
by Neil Lade |
A caring society has a
responsibility to look after people, even when they make mistakes. Reality, and not
personal morality, must guide the heroin debate, says NEIL LADE. |
| Can the United Nations Rid the World of
the Scourge of Drugs? presentation by HR Seccombe |
Ralph Seccombe speaks about his
experience with the UN in Pakistan and analyses the nature of UN programs against illicit
drugs. He comments on the UN promises to "rid the world of the scourge of drugs"
and he explores reasons why the "war on drugs" continues to receive support and
funding and the need for performance measures. |
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Cannabis, or not Cocaine, or not Heroin or ... not Prohibition?
by Peter Watney |
The mistake made in USA in 1933 was
to end prohibition of alcohol under the Volstead Act, but to leave in existence
prohibition of cocaine and heroin under the Harrison Tax Act.This grievous error was then
compounded in 1937 with the Marihuana Tax Act, and by the various Acts that replaced them
in USA and elsewhere after WWII. |
| In
Search of What is Right: The Moral Dimensions of theDrug Debate by
Bill Bush & Max Neutze |
In much of the debate about drugs
participants seem to talk past each other. Very often this is because they come with
different moral values. This paper suggests that because what is at issue is a community
response to a major social problem it is important to take moral values seriously if the
debate is to be advanced. There is scope for proponents to scrutinise the moral positions
of themselves and others. Many of the disputes about what measures will or will not be
effective are only understandable if underlying moral positions are acknowledged. The
paper suggests a framework for the discussion of these issues. |
| Supervised injecting place now deserves a fair
go by
Brian McConnell |
Supervised Injecting Place Trials
are a response to the failure of current policies to stem the flow of drugs and the
overdose deaths. The debate in the ACT Legislative Assembly (and in the NSW parliament) is
over and although it still rages in some areas of the community it is now time in the
Australian tradition to give this trial a fair go. |
Heroin Crisis
a book review by Geoff Page |
For lay readers, Heroin Crisis, a
new collection of essays by experts in the field, will give us most, if not all, of what
we ever needed (or wanted) to know about the present debate on the best ways to deal with
the drug's impact on users and on society generally. |
The Heroin Crisis: Why we
need Courage by Kate Carnell, ACT Chief Minister
An essay drawn by permission from the book Heroin
Crisis which is publisjhed by Bookman Press. |
There is no doubt that Australia
faces major social and public health problems in the increasing use of drugs –
including tobacco, alcohol, pharmaceutical products, inhalants, steroids, marijuana,
heroin and other illegal substances. Nearly one in five deaths in Australia is
drug-related. |
Federal Government Foreshadows Legal Steps to Block
Safe Injecting Rooms
by WM Bush, 29 May 1999 |
The Federal Government has given
veiled notice that it will block the establishment safe injecting rooms. |
That Was The Summit That Was
by Alex Wodak
first published in On Drugs This Week 29 May 1999 |
The NSW Drug Summit was triggered by
the publication of a photograph in a Sydney tabloid newspaper of what was believed to be a
twelve year old boy injecting heroin with equipment obtained from a needle syringe program |
Drugs in Perspective: "Get
Real"
by Dr. Wendell Rosevear |
I work at the front line of drug
problems in the community and in prison and I honestly believe that the National Strategy
of 'Tough on Drugs' is making the problem worse rather than better. |
The other night I dreamed a dream
WM Bush, 1 Jan 1999 |
A wish list for a world without the
tragedy and destruction caused by our current drug policies. |
The Proposed Heroin Trial
by Max Neutze |
The proposal to carry out in
Canberra a trial in which some registered dependent users would be prescribed heroin at
maintenance levels to be taken under controlled conditions has caused much controversy. |
From Grief to Activism
Why Some and Not Others?
Brian McConnell, Spring (US) 1998 |
A look at why some families turn to
activism to change drug policies and why some families press for more and stronger
measures in an attempt to overcome the tragedy that arises from illicit drugs. |
Back To Basics: Some Issues in the Drugs Debate
Geoff Page, Jan
1999 |
An article submitted to Quadrant
Magazine in Jan 1999. |
Lesson lost in the translation
Richard Walsh 1 March 1999 |
An article about Swedish drug policy
reprinted from the Sydney Morning Herald Monday 1 March 1999 |
Sweden’s Drug Policy – Does it have answers for Australia?
Brian McConnell 2 March 1999 |
A brief description of Sweden's drug
policy and its relevance to Australia's evidence based approach to drug policy. |