Submission on drugs and driving 
Roadside drug testing should be about road safety and not just another means of arresting illicit drug users. The submission outlines some conditions that should be implemented in any change in legislation in relation to drugs and driving.

Nobody’s Children Inquiry 
Submission of Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform 
to the Inquiry into the Early Intervention and Care of  Vulnerable Infants in the Act
by the Standing Committee on Health and Disability of  the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory 

"Politicians have the capacity to set policy which prescribes measures that servants of government implement. At the very least, this engages the responsibility of politicians to give open minded consideration to a serious possibility that a policy that is within their capacity to change actually harms."

An open letter to the Prime Minister seeking evidence based drug policies.

Dear Prime Minister,

A number of days ago you said that you were preparing to make an announcement on illicit drugs. You have also said that you are determined to tackle homelessness, mental health, education, child protection, and other social problems and that you would bring evidence to bear in policies of your government.

Evidence shows that drugs are a potent factor in a high percentage of all these social problems. No substantial headway in removing the social problems that you have so clearly identified will ever be made unless drug policy is seriously examined. Priority must be given to improving functionality of people with drug problems. But should not necessarily be making them drug free nor attempting to rid Australia of all drugs.

It is these latter issues that has formed the core of thinking about and the implementation of Australia’s drug policy.

The outcome of that policy has been somewhat different from that which was expected.........more

Submission of Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform to the inquiry of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family and Human Services into the impact of illicit drug use on families. Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform. believes that the starting point of the Committee’s inquiry should be acknowledgment of the moral compass that it intends to use in guiding its deliberations. We urge the committee to take to itself two principles:

• That the overriding objective should be to safeguard life and promote the physical and mental well-being and social functionality of all; and

• That in seeking to forward this objective they should be open to truth. 

Legislative Assembly Standing Committee on Health and Disability – Inquiry into the use of crystal methamphetamine read the submission here and read the supplementary submission here.
In examining the question of methamphetamine use it is necessary to take a broad historical perspective and to examine objectively the circumstances that has lead the ACT, and Australia, to the point where it is now asking how did we arrive at this point.

It is not possible to examine crystal methamphetamine in isolation. The use of that drug has come by way of changing trends in drug use, changing preferences or fashions, availability and marketing of the drug, perhaps coupled with reduced availability of another preferred drug, and the ease with which the drug can be manufactured in or smuggled into the country.

While the Committee’s terms of reference relate only to crystal methamphetamine, the use of that drug is currently fashionable and at some point in time will fall out of fashion and be replaced by another drug. Thus the Committee should in its recommendations adopt a broad approach and be forward looking, else the problems currently being experienced with crystal methamphetamine will simply transfer to the next most fashionable drug. And it is entirely possible that the next most fashionable drug will be more concentrated and bring with it a whole new set of problems, including as with methamphetamines an unpreparedness of suitable responses. 

The supplementary submission corrects some errors in the charts included in that submission, takes account of information that has become available since or addresses issues that have assumed prominence, such as the banning of ice pipes.

FFDLR views on Australia’s mutual assistance arrangements
FFDLR's submission finds serious deficiencies in the arrangements and recomends: 
The Mutual Assistance Act needs to be amended to broaden the scope of assistance to which the safeguards of the Act apply. In particular, Australia should not provide assistance where a person may be convicted for an offence carrying the death penalty unless the requesting State gives an undertaking that the death penalty will not be imposed or if imposed will not be carried out:
1.      In civil law countries where evidence is being gathered or may be provided that could result in the death penalty.
2.      Where assistance may be provided on an officer level or any other level, irrespective of whether a request is or is not made.

SUBMISSION OF FAMILIES AND FRIENDS FOR DRUG LAW REFORM TO THE INQUIRY BY THE PARLIAMENTARY JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE AUSTRALIAN CRIME COMMISSION INTO AMPHETAMINES AND OTHER SYNTHETIC DRUGS

Submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee Review on the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002. In its review of the Australian Crime Commission Act Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform asks that the Committee consider the seven recommendations the group made in its submission dated 14 April 2005 on the 2003-2004 annual report of the Australian Crime Commission. In the present submission Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform makes just one further recommendation. It is that:
The Australian Crime Commission should apply drug market indicators in performance criteria that assess the effectiveness of law enforcement in reducing the supply of illicit drugs to the Australian community.