Sydney Morning Herald
letters@smh.com.au
Friday, January 16, 1998
By Jodie Brough in Canberra
The Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence has cautiously
supported moves to liberalise laws against cannabis use, saying a relaxation would allow
police to redirect their attention to harder drugs.
More than 81 per cent of all drug offences were related to cannabis, involving significant
police resources, while about 30 per cent of the population had tried the drug, the
bureau's report on illicit drugs said.
It said decriminalisation of the personal use of cannabis and cannabisproduction
"could result in a big reduction in the resources committed to controlling the
drug", noting that unlike other illicit drugs there was little crime associated with
cannabis use.
It rejected the view that cannabis was a "gateway" drug which would lead to the
use of harder drugs, suggesting that a less stringent approach to cannabis could
discourage users from progressing to harder drugs. It suggested the link between cannabis
and harder drugs was due to the increased likelihood of cannabis users being exposed to
the availability of harder drugs either through other users or dealers.
"If this is correct, then preventing this exposure may reduce
the number of cannabis users that progress to the more harmful drugs," the report
said.
In other key findings: Growing opium production throughout the
world means heroin imports are unlikely to decrease. Australian heroin seizures have
doubled in the past two years, with increased heroin purity and falling costs leading to
more overdose deaths. Cocaine has become more available and prices have dropped by about
$150 a gram, to about $200 a gram in eastern Australia and to as little as $100 a gram in
Canberra, increasing the likelihood that its use will increase. A crackdown on locally
produced amphetamines has turned some users to heroin because it is cheaper and of higher
quality, causing police concern. LSD is enjoying a resurgence among young people, due to
its decreasing cost and the popularity of "party" drugs such as ecstasy.
The report found cocaine was being imported by traffickers from South America. In NSW,
people of Colombian descent were reported to be working with Australians to distribute the
drug. Sydney continued to be the cocaine capital of Australia, with 70 per cent of all
seizures taking place there since 1992. The most pure cocaine was also found in NSW (an
average of 46 per cent pure) while Queensland had the least pure, at an average of 27
percent.
The report said there was no evidence that moves by the ACT, South
Australia and the Northern Territory to adopt "limited" cannabis
decriminalisation regimes had increased use of the drug. "Community attitudes to the
use of cannabis are undoubtedly changing, becoming more tolerant and accepting," it
said. However, it fell short of recommending more comprehensive moves to decriminalise
cannabis outright. Instead, it suggested that a thorough study of the effects of existing
drug law reform be considered before decriminalisation of cannabis was expanded.
Detection of ecstasy imports was increasing, with drugs usually found in postal items and
baggage from Britain, The Netherlands and Indonesia, it said. The bureau's chairman, the
Victorian police commissioner Mr Neil Comrie, said the effects of amphetamine abuse were
"quite extensive". "They have caused a great deal of pain to the
community," he said. "The fact that law enforcement has been particularly
effective in dealing with that issue ought to be recognised rather than criticised.
Supported