Drug Advisory Council Report

Drug Advisory Council Report
REPORTS HIGHLIGHTS

REPORT OVERVIEW
Victorians are justifiably concerned about widespread misuse of drugs in our community. Experimentation among young people is widespread. Use of drugs such as cannabis and amphetamines is high by international standards, despite prohibitionist laws and a strong commitment to law enforcement. Concerns have become apparent about increasing adolescent initiation into heroin, the shift from oral to intravenous administration of amphetamines and the use of derivatives of this group such as Ecstasy. Use of multiple drugs is common and the same criminal source may offer a variety of drugs. There has been an increase in the number of deaths directly attributable to illicit drug overdose in the past three years. These are all reasons for re-evaluation of policies and programs. The Council was charged with undertaking an intensive public investigation into illicit drugs and advising on how Victoria should tackle the problem. Council members brought a wide range of expertise to the task. Together we have examined the considerable body of evidence currently available in Australia and overseas, have consulted widely in the Victorian community, reviewed over three hundred written submissions, and have taken initiatives to explore issues with special groups and authorities. The Council is conscious of many firmly held and divergent views on particular issues about illicit drugs in our society. We are also fully aware that no simple solution will solve what are, by their nature, long-standing, interrelated and intractable problems. The Council has come to a common view that changes are necessary to policies, legislation and services if we are to effectively contain the problems, and have the capacity, in time, to reduce the harm being caused to our community by drugs. If society is unwilling to consider change, many more individuals and families will be adversely affected in the future. We appeal to the community to consider our recommendations as a whole, covering as they do a wide range of interrelated issues. We hope that agreement will be gained to the adoption of the significantly fresh approach advocated in the report. The recommendations put forward are the unanimous views of the Council.

Harm caused by illicit drugs

The damage done by illicit drugs is significant. It includes:

• Lives that are controlled by drug dependency.
• Many deaths due to drug overdose.
• Disruption to families by bereavement or grief as a result of dependence on illicit drugs.
• Family tensions created by demands for money or the consequences, in many cases, of involvement by drug dependent people in crime.
• Effects on the wider community of crimes of theft, burglary and violence related to drug use.
• Corruption in our society because of the huge sums of money involved in the drug trade.
• Spreading of diseases such as HIV/AIDS, and hepatitis B and C in the community by intravenous drug administration under unsafe conditions.
• The economic costs to society of law enforcement, the courts and imprisonment and related community services.

While the number of deaths attributable to alcohol or tobacco is far greater than those due to illicit drugs, the problems of illicit drugs are clouded, in many people's minds, by moral considerations. Many Victorians find it difficult to consider pragmatic approaches to reduce the harm being caused. However, the Government's and Council's over-riding concern must be to reduce the harm drugs cause to people, to families and to our community. Victoria and Australia have led most of the world in enlightened responses to the problems of abuse of alcohol and tobacco, but our approach to the illicit drugs has lagged in terms of innovation. Until the 1970's, drunkenness was seen as a major community problem, but with the introduction of widespread school and public education and changes in policing, major advances have been made. Public advertising and roadside testing for alcohol have achieved major improvement in the number of road deaths related to alcohol. In contrast, the widespread use of marijuana, because it is illicit, has not been subject to any education programs to help people to distinguish use from misuse. Surveys indicate that twelve per cent of all Victorians have used marijuana in the past year and the proportion is much higher among young people. Community concerns about the risks associated with driving under the influence of marijuana (and other drugs) supports development of education and law enforcement programs similar to drink driving campaigns and programs.

Will prohibition on its own solve our problems?

The use of substances that alter mood has a long history in human society. Records or evidence of use of the opium poppy, of marijuana and of alcohol go back over thousands of years. Concern over international trafficking in psychoactive drugs, (particularly those derived from opium, cocaine and cannabis) has resulted in the adoption of successive international treaties, the first of which was in the early years of this century. These were subsumed by the United Nations (UN) in 1949. Subsequent treaties have required signatories to ensure that trafficking, possession, and use of stipulated drugs is treated as a criminal offence. Italy and Spain have moved away from criminal sanctions for the use of all drugs in recent years. The Netherlands has not changed its laws, but imposes no penalty for use or sale of small quantities of marijuana. The international community has attempted to curb production and trafficking in cocaine and opium (from which heroin is derived). However, evidence provided by United Nations agencies indicates that production of these drugs continues to increase and that it represents a major portion of the economies of a number of South and South East Asian and South American countries. Producers continue to search for new outlets through thriving international criminal networks that control a black market. Contemporary Australian assessments indicate that law enforcement agencies, despite rigorous efforts, are having only a relatively small impact on the availability of drugs.

The economics of trade in illicit drugs

Estimates of global annual turnover in the illicit drug industry are of the order of $US400 to 500 billion and approach 10 per cent of the total value of international trade. A report of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the National Crime Authority in 1988 estimated the annual turnover in Australia for heroin, cocaine and cannabis alone to be $2.6 billion. The cost to our economy of illicit drugs in Australia is estimated to be of the order of 0.5 per cent of GDP. In the USA, it has been estimated that the average economic cost to the community of a dependent heroin user was $US43,000 per year. Incarceration costs $45,000 per year; by comparison, residential care in a treatment facility costs $16,500 per year, and methadone maintenance in the community $3,500 per year. Victorian costs are similar.

Looking for alternatives

Mr George Schultz, former Secretary of State in the USA, said in 1990, that the 'war against drugs', as then conceived, was doomed to fail and that '... we need at least to consider and examine forms of controlled legalisation of drugs' (The Wall Street Journal, October 27).

In a recent address, the Secretary General of Interpol, Mr Ray Kendall, said he was "entirely supportive of the notion of removing the abuse of drugs from the penal realm in favour of other forms of regulation such as psycho - medical - social treatment". He went on to state that "the dollar you spend on demand reduction is seven times more cost effective than the dollar you spend on law enforcement".

The General Accounting Office of the United States Government, in 1993, released a review entitled Confronting the Drug Problem: Debate Persists on Enforcement and Alternative Approaches. The study canvassed a wide range of possible approaches, including the establishment of a regulated market for marijuana, while continuing prohibition for other, more addictive, illicit drugs.

In 1994, a Commonwealth Department of Human Services and Health publication set out five legislative options that ranged through the system of fines, and decriminalisation of varying degrees, to regulated supply and free markets. Many are searching for solutions, few have been willing to adopt them.

Cannabis products are readily available in the community to those who choose to use them. Decriminalisation of cannabis cultivation for personal use, within the context of the home environment would diminish the link with other more damaging and addictive illicit drugs. However, any such change must be made in conjunction with the provision of appropriate education and public advice on the dangers of abuse of the drug, and appropriate penalties for trafficking.

CONCLUSIONS
The emphasis in this report is on reducing demand, encouraging treatment, support and rehabilitation where possible, and concentrating law enforcement resources on curbing the supply of illicit drugs in local communities and statewide. Legislative changes which support the reforms are also proposed. An appropriate balance between these aspects is essential if the harm being done to society is to be minimised, and the important achievements of the Victorian and National Drug Strategies of the past 10 years are to be built upon. Major themes of the recommendations are: Information and Health Education

Systematic implementation of school based education programs about the misuse of licit and illicit drugs so that young people are encouraged to keep control of their own destinies and to protect themselves from harm. Improved information sources for parents to assist them to educate and support their children regarding drug issues.

Legislation

• Elimination, as an offence, of personal possession and use of marijuana.
• Growing of up to five plants per household for personal use to no longer be an offence.
• Trafficking in marijuana and trafficking, possession and use of the more potent cannabis products and other currently illicit drugs will remain an offence.
• Local authorities should regulate smoking of marijuana in public places.
• Offensive behaviour, should it occur, will be dealt with by police under the current law.
• Ensuring police are able to deal with people found to be driving dangerously under the influence of drugs, including marijuana.
• Funding research and development to establish a test for short-lived metabolites of cannabis products in breath or in saliva to enable the introduction of roadside testing.
• Reviewing sentencing patterns and levels of penalties to ensure that penalties for trafficking are appropriate to the crime.

RECOMMENDATIONS
The following is an edited version of the recommendations included in the full report.

LEGISLATIVE AMENDMENTS
7. The Victorian Government amend the Drugs Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981.
7.1 Use and possession of a small quantity of marijuana should no longer be an offence. 'Small quantity' should be defined as no more than 25 grams (half the amount specified in the 1981 Act).
7.2 Cultivation of up to five cannabis plants per household for personal use should no longer be an offence. 'Household' should be defined to exclude everything other than private residences.
7.3 Sale of marijuana should remain an offence. Sale of small quantities by an adult to an adult should incur a caution delivered by Victoria Police for a first offence and an adjourned bond for a second offence. Maximum penalties for sale to young people should be maintained at present levels.
7.4 Provisions of the Summary Offences Act 1966 should be reviewed to ensure offensive behaviour under the influence of marijuana can be dealt with by police. Similarly, local government should establish bylaws that restrict consumption in public places. Such bylaws would reflect current restrictions on alcohol consumption.
7.5 Legislation should be introduced to expunge all recorded convictions for possession and use of small quantities of marijuana.
7.6 Use and possession of heroin, cocaine, amphetamines, Ecstasy and cannabis products (including small quantities) other than marijuana, should remain an offence.
7.8 Penalties available for drug trafficking are severe and should remain so.
7. 11 Research should be funded to establish a test for short-lived metabolites of cannabis products in saliva or breath to allow, in due course, the introduction of roadside testing for cannabis in a manner comparable to alcohol breath testing.

KEY FACTS
Illicit Drugs Ever Tried by Gender, 1995 & 1992
Source:1992 Survey of Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Illicit Drugs Use Among Victorian Secondary Students, H&CS 1992
1995 National Drug Household Survey (Victorian Component - Draft) (includes Victorians aged 14 and over)

A significant proportion of the community have used an illicit drug at some time. Cannabis is clearly the most frequently used illicit drug in the community. Young males are more likely to have used marijuana than females. Almost half of male students in Year 11 reported that they had used marijuana.

Estimated Population Prevalence of Regular and Irregular Heroin Use, Australia, 1986 & 1990
Source:Review of Methadone Treatment in Australia, CDHS&H, 1995.

(1) Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. It is estimated that the number of regular heroin users almost doubled between 1986 and 1990 (a trend the Council Believes has continued). There has been a fifty percent increase in irregular heroin users.

Data for Australia and Victoria does not distinguish between crack and cocaine. The USA and UK surveys ask respondents if they have ever tried crack. In the USA, 3.6 reported that they had tried crack, and 1 per cent reported that they had tried it in the past year, while in the UK the figures were 0.3 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively. Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug, internationally. The legal status of the drug does not appear to directly effect usage levels.

Total Recorded Drug Offences by Drug Type, Victoria, 1993-1994 to 1994-95 Source: Victoria Police Statistical Services Division

The vast proportion of drug offences detected relate to cannabis rather than other illicit drugs. The vast proportion of drug offences detected relate to possession rather than trafficking.