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2012/08: Should low-level, personal drug use be decriminalised?
Introduction to the media issue
Video clip at right:On April 3, 2012, Channel 9’s Today program ran a report on the Australia 21 recommendations. The report includes an interview with Foreign Minister, Bob Carr If you cannot see this clip, it will be because video is blocked by your network. To view the clip, access from home or from a public library, or from another network which allows viewing of video clips.
What they said...
'The evidence suggests this "war" - a drugs crackdown initiated by then prime minister John Howard more than a decade ago - has worked'
Herald Sun columnist, Andrew Bolt
'Prohibition isn't working; the Americans dismissed prohibition of alcohol because it didn't work. Why do they think prohibition of illicit drugs will work any better?'
Professor Peter Baume, a former minister in the Fraser government
The issue at a glance
On April 3, 2012, Australia 21, an independent think tank, released a report urging politicians to reconsider the politically taboo subject of drug control. The report recommends a massive re-think to tackle the illegal drug trade.
The report includes the views of former federal law enforcement officers, health ministers, and premiers, including Foreign Minister Bob Carr, former NSW health minister Michael Wooldridge and former West Australian premier Geoff Gallop.
Bob Carr's support for the decriminalisation of low-level, personal drug use has been rejected by Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.