Drugs reform in Australia

I know this is seemingly a US centric site. But I feel like I’ve spent my entire life listening to Americans complain about the war on drugs. At least through various TV shows. But I feel like I’m somewhat more lost in my own country and what we should do about drugs in general.

Perhaps because of the aforementioned shows, I am quite disillusioned with the “war on drugs approach.”

I favour practicality. Harm reduction, rehabilitation and treating addiction as a health concern.
I look at programs like our free clean needle exchange and I see net positives instead of just negatives. Reduction of death, reduction of the spread of diseases like HIV etc. So this is not me being some leftie softball hippie or whatever.
I mean our tax dollars are going to be spent either way, so why put unnecessary strain on police to hunt down some poor junkie? That time could be better spent on rehabilitation and job opportunities, freeing up more police resources.
Maybe the “lax laws” have a good point. A good bite out of the criminal element supplying the drugs, safer highs, less stigma, more opportunities for rehabilitation.
The war on drugs seemingly has all the same drawbacks as prohibition.
So bugger it, let people get high and screw up their bodies. We still sell cancer sticks freely and openly. Why not go the next step?

But what do my fellow Aussies say?
And indeed those not from Australiastan, what say you?

I'm torn on this.
For the most part, I see benefit in admitting that the war on drugs approach is not ever going to stop drug use. It promotes profit margins for criminal elements, and it encourages addicts to act in anti-societal ways to protect and preserve their habits.

Personally, I have inconsistencies with my own relationship with drugs. Growing up, I had a fairly 'typical' Australian environment. My father smoked (my mother had stopped when pregnant), and it was 'normal' for a boy to drink beer. I remember shared experiences with my father and grandfather having small glasses of beer even when I was relatively young. I still drink to this day, and whilst it's never negatively impacted on me in any meaningful way (I'm a happy drunk, I've always been able to pick when to drink and when not to, etc), let's not pretend I'm drug free, in the larger sense.

My father was absolutely anti-drug, in terms of illicit substances. I suspect I would have been kicked out of home if I so much as smoked dope. There is a pretty clear level of hypocrisy in that, I guess. But for people like my father, the laws set what you can and can't do, and what you should teach your kids to do, or not do.

For me, not so much.

Which is why I'm torn to some degree. It's a complicated issue. I'll be interested in what others think, and have a somewhat open mind on this. The current approach is not effective, but that doesn't automatically make a change better.

And yes, right now I am getting splinters from this fence I am sitting on.

@SomeRandom I don’t do recreational drugs or alcohol, but in a nutshell i’m opposed to prohibition by the law of the land, although i’m not against people self prohibiting.

danieldemol said:

@SomeRandom I don’t do recreational drugs or alcohol, but in a nutshell i’m opposed to prohibition by the law of the land, although i’m not against people self prohibiting.

Click to expand...

I drink far too often. I stop short of illicit drugs. I know some addicts and yeah they burnt me one too many times for me to want to help them anymore. But throwing them in jail isn’t going to do a damned thing except waste resources.
Much like @lewisnotmiller I am torn. I don’t know whether or not just making it all legal will be any better. But if a system isn’t working then we might as well try something different else we’re just doing this out of habit and is that any way to run a society?