War on Drugs linked to Aboriginal deaths

 

Taylah Gray. Pic: Max Mason-Hubers/
Newcastle Herald

Some important dots were joined today, linking the War on Drugs with Aboriginal deaths in custody.

"Police in NSW pursue more than 80 per cent of Aboriginal people found with a small amount of cannabis through the courts while letting others off with warnings.

"Start with bail and stop locking black people up, let our children home. Bailey Mackander whose inquest was happening today was a 19-year-old boy in prison."

Thus spake University of Newcastle PHD candidate and Wiradjuri woman Taylah Gray in the Newcastle Herald today.  

While Australia struggles with solutions to the problem despite the Black Deaths Royal Commission laying out several actions, legalising and regulating cannabis (and even all other drugs) would eliminate one of the big four reasons First Nations people are locked up in the first place.

Of course it would solve many other problems, and could even create revenue for the government, as is now clear from the success of legalisation and decriminalisation in other countries and states.

There is no rational reason for prohibition. We know it does not work, with history including Al Capone waging Tommy-Gun battles on the streets and now daily drive-by shootings, stabbings and murders in some parts of Sydney as criminal dealer gangs fight out their differences.

But Liberal and Labor governments turn a blind eye to the obvious and perpetuate this failed, expensive, murderous policy. More people should punish them at the ballot box!

Roadside drug testing again shown to be deeply unjust

A misleading message from a
Howard-era anti-cannabis campaign.

The unjust persecution of drivers detected with cannabis in their bodies – but little or no impairment – just took another hit, with a Sydney University meta-study showing limited impairment times. 

The injustice is pretty clear – 

"users were impaired for between three and 10 hours after taking moderate to high doses of the intoxicating component of cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

THC can be detected in the body for weeks after cannabis consumption, meaning users can face fines and loss of their licence, despite being unaffected by the drug." (from the linked ABC News story)

Furthermore the 10-hour figure applied to heavy oral consumption. Smokers and long-term users had a shorter period of impairment.