Letter writer MARION McCONNELL says Michael Pettersson’s Bill to decriminalise small amounts of drugs for personal use is a very welcome small step in the right direction.
I FIND it difficult to understand why people who have suffered under illicit drug policy want that same policy to continue. (“Going soft on drug possession won’t fix the problem”, CN January 21).
To understand the need for change we must consider the broader picture and the real outcomes of prohibition drug policy and whether its goals have been achieved.
If the goal of prohibition was to hand over the production and sale of drugs to drug cartels, encourage the sale of drugs through black-market pyramid selling; encourage the illegal manufacture of a diversity of drugs with no controls whatsoever; produce more criminals as those addicted commit crime to support their drug use; overpopulate our prisons; corrupt police and officials; lose thousands of lives yearly to drug overdose; fragment families; cost taxpayers billions of dollars, then the goals have certainly been met.
But if the goal were to reduce the availability and use of drugs it has been an absolute, dismal failure.
Michael Pettersson’s Bill to decriminalise small amounts of drugs for personal use with access to health guidance and information is a very welcome small change in the right direction.
Marion McConnell