Australian Sex Party wants to decriminalize drug use

Credit: thefreshscent.com

Illegal drug use in Australia costs the nation $3.8 billion every year, says Professor Paul Wilson, an Australian criminologist.

According to the Australian Sex Party, personal drug use should be decriminalized and drug abusers sent for rehabilitation instead of imprisonment.

Fiona Patten, party president and Victorian Senate candidate at the launch of the party's revolutionary drug law policy in Sydney just recently, said the Sex Party would make a move on the decriminalization of personal drug if the party won a seat in federal parliament.

The policy roots for the decriminalization, not legalization of possession and consumption of drugs for personal use, up to a total of 14 days' supply per person.

It also calls to legalize the use of cannabis for specific medical usage and heroin prescription for registered users.

Ms Patten stressed that drug trafficking and dealing would remain a criminal offence, as well as supplying of drugs to a minor.

In Portugal, the same policy had been implemented nearly a decade ago and Ms Patten said, "And oh my God, the world didn't end for Portugal".

The drug use in Portugal has in fact declined, she said, while people seeking health assistance for their drug abuse and addiction has tripled, which is an amazing success.

Paul Wilson, criminologist at Bond University who welcomed the policy said it didn't go far enough.

Prof Wilson said a shift of paradigm is needed from the use of criminal justice system using the war on drugs to an education and health system.

He said the proposals are not radical, and the current war on drugs has completely failed. It's time to give the Portuguese model a chance.

Ms Patten said, "The Australian Sex Party is first and foremost a civil liberties party, but it's also about getting government intervention out of people's lives, allowing adults to make those decisions for themselves.

Whether the issue is about censorship, same-sex marriages, sexuality or drug use, Ms Patten said she believes that at the end of the day it is about adults making decisions for themselves.