War On Drugs In Australia Essay

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The War on Drugs has been a costly failure. It empowers criminal cartels, destroys lives, infringes civil rights, and fails to reduce drug use or availability. It is time to consider alternatives to the current criminalising approach to drug control. Mr Cowdery S.C. (2011) states “drug laws need to be reformed so that minor possession, use and trafficking offences are no longer treated as criminal matters, rather, as the health and social issue that they are”. In many cases, some drug offenders and minor drug offences should be treated as health and social issues rather than a law enforcement issue. Mr Trimingham (2011) is right when he says “there is no evidence worldwide which suggests that a zero tolerance stance on drugs is working”. Harm minimisation has been the cornerstone of Australian drug policy since 1985. It has been successful in reducing the spread of blood borne viruses such as HIV and assisted addicts in receiving the help they require. In order for harm minimisation to be successful, it relies upon a whole of government response and, in particular, a strong collaborative working relationship between law enforcement and health …show more content…

From a law enforcement perspective, The New South Wales Police Force is largely involved in supply reduction, however, police also have an important role to play in reducing the demand for illegal drugs and the harms associated with their use. The NSW Police Force is involved in a number of demand reduction strategies. One example is the Cannabis Cautioning Scheme (CCS), which aims to reduce future offending by reducing the demand for cannabis. NSW has the lowest reoffending rates of all states which have cannabis cautioning schemes. More than 80% of those cautioned in NSW do not

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