Sex Party Drugs Platform Details Released
The Australian Sex Party has released a number of key points in its proposals to empty jails of
drug addicts and save the nation billions of dollars through misplaced enforcement priorities.
Professor of Criminology at Bond University, Paul Wilson, endorsed the plan and said that evidence from
other countries showed categorically that the ‘war on drugs’ had been lost and that new strategies had
to be looked at by Australian governments. “Four Royal Commissions have shown strong evidence of
widespread corruption in the policing of drugs”, he said. “The total tangible costs of illegal drug abuse
for 2004-5 for crime-related activities (police, courts, prisons, violence, insurance) is $3.8 billion which is
acknowledged as an ‘under-reported’ figure.”
Sex Party President Fiona Patten said that both Labor and Liberal parties had ignored social policy
issues in the election campaign because they were afraid of a conservative backlash. “They would rather
bury their heads in the sand than face up to a problem at home that is bigger than asylum seekers”, she
said. “The absolute failure of governments to deal with drug abuse in Australia is a failure to address the
biggest social infrastructure problem that Australia has”, she said.
Prof Wilson said that 82% of drug arrests were for possession and that this represented a terrible waste
of police resources. “Over 50% of police detainees report obtaining illicit drugs prior to their arrest”, he
said. “Tobacco is a legal drug whose use is declining precisely because it is still legal and users are
more amenable to government control, education and taxation”.
Australian Sex Party: Drug Law Reforms
ü Decriminalisation, (not legalisation) of possession and consumption of all drugs for personal use,
such quantity to be defined as an amount equal or less than 14 day’s supply for one person
ü Infractions to be treated in an administrative framework and not in the criminal justice system
ü Immediate cessation of the use of drug sniffer dogs in public areas like streets and parks
ü Legalise and regulate cannabis for specified medical uses
ü Laboratory quality drug testing stations to be provided at all music festivals and the like
ü Subsidised and high quality drug testing kits to be made available through pharmacies, age
restricted premises and mobile distribution centres
ü Legalise and increase the number of medically supervised injecting rooms
ü Legalise the prescription of heroin to registered and habitual users
v Trafficking and dealing in drugs to remain a criminal offence
v Supply of any drugs to a minor to be a criminal offence
Fiona Patten: 0413 734 613; Prof Paul Wilson 0402 460 589
This is a bold policy. It’s got way too much common-sense in it for it to be accepted by the wider community, but the Sex Party are to be lauded for taking such a rational and well thought our view on their approach to drugs in our society.
If only we had more people like them.