Mr Kumar went on to ask who the co-accused was, and as soon as his name was uttered by the prosecutor everything clicked. The name triggered a series of flashbacks: the “co-accused” attending our community centre for the first time, permanently hungry, clearly left to his own devices too often and from a very early age, barely able to read and write, often misbehaving, with something extremely endearing about him nonetheless.
More flashbacks: calls to Child Protection, interviews with Youth Corrections Officers, attempts to enrol him in school, almost daily visits and chats at the community centre, positive engagement but clearly not enough.
“My brother has been locked up again”. This sentence, uttered the following day, put it all in place. All this time I have been thinking about the issues brought up by both reports, without actively linking them to our drug policy!
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For a decade I have worked with many individuals who have struggled with drug abuse. In this time I have never witnessed a situation in which our current drug laws have restricted access for anyone. The morality of the prohibition of drugs would be an interesting and relevant topic if this prohibition could be enforced.
In this inability to enforce drug laws, we are faced with the following problems:
- drugs are readily available for people who want them, but their trade is completely unregulated, putting users, and people living in communities where drug trafficking is prevalent, at physical risk in a number of ways:
- there is no way for users to know the composition of the drugs they purchase;
- drug traffickers are not obliged, and do not have an incentive to deny access to drugs to young people under 18, or to people who are severely intoxicated[
- sitting outside the law, drug traffickers often carry and use weapons; and
- users often consume drugs in parks or public places and needles are not safely disposed of.
- the secrecy involved in drug use makes it difficult for consumers to access proper information about drugs, their effects and support services available.
- there are thousands of people making millions of dollars by selling drugs who not only get to take home 100% of their profits, but they also get to claim Centrelink payments on top of that.
- more millions of dollars are spent on resources aimed at fuelling this war on drugs in the form of police, courts and prisons.
In my view, the issues outlined in this article point to the need to decriminalise and regulate drug use in Victoria, using the resources that would be unlocked to break the cycle of disadvantage by improving opportunities for children and young people growing up in disadvantaged areas and by changing the focus of our prison system to prioritise rehabilitation and reintegration.
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