Just when you thought all hope was lost on a sensible drug debate in Australia, along comes this. The Uniting Church stance isn’t actually that surprising. They manage the Kings Cross drug injecting room and are one of the few Christian organisations in Australia who actually practice what they preach. Shock Jock Jones or “The Parrot” as he’s known is another matter altogether.
What’s driven him to talking sense, still confuses us but take small mercies where you can !
Earlier in the week we reported
Australia: Game On… NSW Bar Association Says It’s Time To Decriminalise Ice & Other Drugs
The NSW Bar’s Submission to the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Drug “Ice” and signed off by President Tim Game SC states , “It is the position of the Association that consideration should be given to decriminalisation of personal acquisition, possession and use of illicit drugs, with increased focus on treatment and harm reduction measures. There should also be encouragement of diversionary measures for minor matters that remain criminalised.”
The Sydney Morning Herald has now followed up their original report
On Wednesday, the medical director of Uniting’s medically supervised injecting centre in Kings Cross, Dr Marianne Jauncey, said there was “very much an increasing confluence of normally disparate voices basically saying the same thing: the current situation is not working”.
“What I’ve now learned in the 20-odd years I’ve been working [in the field] is that there are direct harms that come merely from the criminalisation of tiny amounts of personal use,” Dr Jauncey said.
“We want to keep our children safe and we don’t want people using dangerous substances. If that’s our aim, you can clearly say the current system has failed.”
Dr Jauncey said “people really have to sit up and take notice” when the Uniting Church, lawyers, medical experts, social workers and broadcaster Alan Jones were among those suggesting the approach to criminalising the personal use and possession of illicit substances was failing.
Mr Jones said on Wednesday that he “never thought I would say this but everything we have done to date has failed. Everything. So something different has to be done”.
News.com.au reports
The 2GB breakfast host was speaking about a submission from the New South Wales Bar Association to a Special Commission of Inquiry into methamphetamines, better known as ice.
It has called for the decriminalisation of personal usage of ice and other illicit substances and diverting resources to treatment and rehabilitation, as well as a stronger focus on prosecuting drug producers and traffickers.
“Decriminalisation of personal acquisition, possession and use of illicit drugs would allow the implementation of a comprehensive public health approach,” the NSW Bar Association submission said.
Jones stopped just shy of endorsing the plan but was sympathetic to its merits, pointing out a report this week found alcohol was the most harmful drug in Australia — more so than ice.
