Tuesday, May 05, 2015

Andrew Colvin self-promotes at expense of executed men

AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin thinks the
futile War on Drugs is more important than young lives.
It’s disgusting – these senior police protecting their own pointless jobs by pleading Drug War platitudes. In refusing to apologise for the Indonesian executions of two Australians, AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin deflected a question raised by Senator Xenophon – why couldn’t the Bali Nine have been arrested on their return to Australia and these executions prevented?

The AFP, it seems, had alerted Indonesian police to the arrival of the Bali 9 drug smugglers despite knowing the death penalty could be enforced.

Colvin's excuses contained a list of drug war clich̩s. It ignored that most heroin casualties occur BECAUSE it is illegal, and ignored the success of supervised injecting centres in preventing overdoses and deaths Рa far cheaper option than the ever more privatised drug enforcement and jail industry that Colvin eagerly supports.
 
Typically, Andrew Colvin used the same dodgy stats that Indonesia's President Widodo used to whip up horror at "the scourge of drugs" - "Families and communities destroyed by drugs" - "4,000 deaths from heroin (and other opioids)" over four years - and they've taken enough heroin off the streets for "eight hits for every man, woman and CHILD in Australia", because heroin dealers run around randomly injecting chilren, right? Never mind that taking that heroin off the streets neatly keeps the price up so criminals are eternally attracted to the trade and the cops keep their budgets, promotions and jobs etc etc.

He didn't even come up with a new cliché.