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Australian Drug Policy is a hell of a drug, in that it can and will fuck you up should you get caught.
To quote the website of not-for-profit Unharm!, a “war on drugs is a war on people” and our current legislation surrounding ‘illicit substances’ would certainly seem to support that sentiment. Throughout our conversation with the organisation’s director, Will Tregoning, he laid out the aims of Unharm – they amount to: “pursuing drug policies and practices that reduce harms to health and wellbeing.”
For those of you who do believe in further drug decriminalisation, we asked Will what the hold-up was and he spoke about the stigma that still surrounds drug use and noted people are rarely willing to talk openly about their experiences. (Despite the large numbers of Aussies who have, at least, dipped their toe in the narcotics pool, there are many reasons why people might be unwilling to tell their bosses, for example).
This means that, in the Game of Polls, no strong pull emerges for politicians to push for reform. After all, there are no guaranteed votes in something many people only discuss in private and so, the stalemate continues.
However, he argues that if young people explained to the people in their life why they choose to have drugs as part of said life, there would be more widespread understanding and we could all move the conversation forward. Because, realistically, most people view the current drug laws as out of touch and clearly aren’t taking the ‘warnings’ very seriously.
