At last a majority of the eight Australian Governments have seen the obvious and are going to support the heroin trial in the ACT. It probably became obvious to thoughtful politicians quite some time ago that the policy of prohibiting drugs on pain of heavy penalty as primary method of controlling drug addiction was not working. However, they also realised that many less thoughtful voters would reel with horror at the thought of dealing with heroin addiction in any other way. Heroin is a nasty, addictive drug and we should do all we can to curb its use, but there has been so much propaganda about heroin that a large majority of the population greatly over-estimate its effect on the human body. But it seems, particularly in the ACT, that a large number of people in the population are beginning to realise that the effect of heroin prohibition on the body politic is far more pernicious than its effect on the human body of those unfortunate to be addicted.
The new realisation is not just that prohibition is not working, but that the policy is actually creating more addicts — the very opposite of what the policy was designed to do.
With prohibition and penalties in place, providers of the drug have to take higher risks or have to pay other people more to take those risks for them. It means the price of the drug on the street goes up. If it were a non-addictive product, this would not matter too much; people would just stop buying it. But heroin is addictive. A significant proportion of users (but by no means all) become addicted and are willing to pay a very high price for their drug. Invariably, they spend their own assets with destructive effects on family and friends. They also borrow and steal. But more perniciously they try to get others hooked so that they can share their drug costs as small-time dealers. Prohibition, over the years, has created large numbers of small-time dealers who actively try to get others hooked.
The higher the penalties, the greater the risk, the higher the price, and the greater the profits for big dealers. The drug trade becomes very profitable with huge amounts of money at stake. There is enough money to bribe police and even judicial officers to protect the big and medium dealers.
Then there is the health problem. With prohibition the manufacture of the drug is irregular and the drug is mixed with other substances so it is impossible for users to know the precise dosage. Many overdose. About 500 deaths a year occur in Australia. Frequently users share needles adding to the risk of HIV and hepatitis infection.
All of this stems from prohibition. Since the 1950s the steady increase in government money and effort going to the futile attempts at prohibition has resulted in a steady increase in the number of addicts.
Besides, prohibition is crazy jurisprudence. Criminal law punishes those who injure the person or property of others. Punishing drug use makes the vicitim and perpetrator the same person. It should be seen as a health problem; not a crime.
The heroin trial is the first welcome step in that direction. Obviously it must run with a strong educational message against drugs. This is not inconsistent; it is just applying different approaches to treatment, cure and prevention.