Author Archives: Paul Gregoire

About Paul Gregoire
Paul Gregoire is a Sydney-based journalist and writer. He has a focus on civil rights, drug law reform, gender and Indigenous issues. Along with Sydney Drug Lawyers, he writes for VICE and is the former news editor at Sydney’s City Hub.

Berejiklian Bins: A Futile Move By a Failing Premier

NSW deputy state coroner Harriet Grahame recently recommended the implementation of pill testing and the removal of drug dogs at music festivals to prevent people from taking substances that can prove fatal, panic overdosing and preloading on drugs to avoid police detection.

NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian came out on Wednesday with her government’s response to these life-saving recommendations made by an expert charged with ascertaining why six young people died in drug-related circumstances at festivals over the last two summers.

And what did Berejiklian announce? She’s going to implement amnesty bins at festivals, which are designed to be an accompaniment to pill testing operations. They allow people – who’ve had their drugs tested to see if they could prove fatal – to throw them out.

The premier said the provision of bins will allow people that “see police or other activity” to not panic, but throw their drugs away. “Other activity” is presumably code for drug dogs. And as well, Gladys saw fit to declare that she’s “closing the door” on pill testing.

What is she on, anyway?

Respectfully, Ms Berejiklian has never taken any drugs, neither does she have a medical background, and further, she ignores the evidence-based recommendations made by the experts, so she has no idea how ridiculous and harmful what she’s saying in regard to these issues actually is.

Although, the premier could consider a couple of things before she gets more blood on her hands, such as people have pretty much always taken drugs and the fact that some die, hasn’t stopped this. Just in the same way that alcohol deaths haven’t prevented people from enjoying a glass of chardy.

When people go to the trouble of sourcing drugs and paying for them, they don’t expect to die, as the majority of them don’t. When they preload prior to a festival, or panic ingest, they don’t expect to die then either. They’re actually trying to avoid drug dogs and strip searching obsessed police.

If Ms Berejiklian followed the deputy coroner’s recommendations, young people could walk into a festival have their drugs tested, have a discussion with a health expert, avoid taking potentially lethal doses or toxic substances and they could even use her thoughtfully provided bins if they chose to.

And let’s face it, there’s always going to be that person who refuses to use their seatbelt, even though it’s provided, and ends up paying with their life because of it.

A veteran in preventing drug deaths  

The harm reduction programs Dr Alex Wodak has played an integral part in seeing rolled out have saved countless lives in this country. On whether the amnesty bin idea is going to save lives, he said “the answer, unfortunately, is a clear no”.

And as far as the president of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation is concerned, the door is definitely still open on “further discussion of pill testing to reduce deaths”. He added that while “saturation policing, strip searches and sniffer dogs might be clever politics”, they don’t work.

“At some time in the future, state and territory governments throughout Australia will accept the overwhelming arguments for providing testing at youth music events and also at fixed sites,” Dr Wodak told Sydney Criminal Lawyers.

“Until policy changes, there will be more needless, preventable deaths.”

Drug Arrests and Seizures Do Not Deter Drug Suppliers or Reduce Consumption

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission released the Illicit Drug Data report 2017-18 last week. In its sixteenth year, the report provides an overview of the domestic black market, and the efforts of law enforcement to combat drug trafficking transnational crime networks.

The report findings reveal that Australians continue to have a taste for amphetamine-type stimulants, which account for most seizures. Although, locals are also moving on to cocaine, with a record number of arrests carried out for that substance over the 12 month period.

During the financial year 2017-18, there was a record amount of 30.6 tonnes of illicit substances taken from 112,827 drug seizures. And the various police forces around the country made 148,363 drug-related arrests throughout the year.

This means that, on average, authorities made a drug seizure every five minutes, one kilogram of illicit drugs was snatched every seventeen and a half minutes, and someone was arrested in drug-related circumstances every four minutes.

But, if you take a step back from the record amounts, the skyrocketing arrests and the ridiculously high prices, what’s revealed is that despite global prohibition, illicit substances are flooding across Australian borders, consumption is on the rise, and law enforcement efforts are no deterrent.

The opposite effect

Key outcomes of the century-long system of transnational drug controls have been the growth of powerful criminal networks, an abundance of available illicit drugs, an ever-changing variety of substances, increased drug consumption, and the criminalisation of vast numbers of the population.

Of course, these outcomes are not what one would have expected when representatives from multiple nations began meeting in the early years of the 20th century to draft treaties that were, on the face of it, designed to control the consumption of drugs for health reasons.

And since the launch of the war on drugs in the early 1970s, these outcomes have only been exacerbated. The stepping up of law enforcement efforts to curb illegal drug production and trafficking has increased the risks involved, which in turn, has heightened the profits.

Illegality increases profitability

The NSW Crime Commission Annual Report 2015-16 outlines that “the illicit drug trade continues to be the main stream of income for organised crime groups operating in Australia”. And it predicted that due to the steep price of drugs in this country, trafficking from overseas was likely to increase.

The report further puts forth that it’s the international drug cartels that are calling the shots in Australia. The authors posit that organised crime decides what sort of volumes are going to be smuggled into the country, and local consumers take what they make available.

“Commendable law enforcement efforts around the country have resulted in larger seizures and more arrests, but they have had little, if any, effect on the quantities of prohibited drugs available for consumption in Australia,” the report authors admit.

Australian drug historian Dr John Jiggens explained to Sydney Criminal Lawyers back in May that “drug law enforcement acts as a multiplier for the drug market”. The doctor asserts that every dollar spent on drug law enforcement works out to ten dollars in the pockets of drug suppliers.

Dr Jiggens emphasised that the “war on meth” being waged by authorities over the last decade has led to a surge in its availability and profitability. The risks involved hike the price, which then leads international players to focus on the Australian market, because it’s where they get the best profits.

Arrests are no answer

The lack of any real impact being made via drug seizures is nowhere more understood than at the frontline of enforcement. Police officers are increasingly savvy to the fact that with every drug bust they make, more drugs appear from elsewhere to fill the momentary gap in the market.

The 2017 Australia21 report on illegal substances makes thirteen key recommendations regarding drug decriminalisation. And significantly, four of the participants making up the thinktank were former police commissioners and assistant commissioners.

Ex-Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Palmer was the vice president of Australia21 at the time of the report release. And today, the former top cop is one of the most vocal advocates for decriminalising the personal possession and use of illegal drugs in this country.

Mr Palmer is well-known for acknowledging that the drug issue is not something that the nation can arrest its way out of. And he’s clear that the majority of harms arising from illicit substances are due to their prohibition.

Cannabis: a case in point

The ACT Legislative Assembly is set to vote on a bill next month that if successful will mean that the personal possession of up to 50 grams of cannabis and its use will be legalised in the capital territory. And Labor MLA Michael Pettersson who introduced the legislation is fairly confident it will pass.

Recreational cannabis is now legal in eleven US states, and the entire nations of Canada and Uruguay. For medicinal purposes, it is these days legal in this country. And underlying these developments is the understanding that the adult use of this drug is relatively harmless.

However, the recent drug report shows that there were 72,381 cannabis arrests across Australia in 2017-18. And of these, 66,296 – or 92 percent – were consumer arrests. And when considering all drug arrests during that year, it turns out 44 percent were arrests of cannabis consumers.

So, this would point to a situation where the majority of the harms related to cannabis are most likely attributable to its illegality, as while its consumption is unlikely to cause any major long-term harm to an adult, being arrested for its possession is.

Legalise it all

Five young Australians died at music festivals in this state last summer. And despite rising calls to implement pill testing at these events, the Berejiklian government is sticking to its reactionary “just say no” to drugs approach.

As Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation president Dr Alex Wodak has pointed out, MDMA – the drug of choice for festivalgoers – is one of the “least risky drugs”. So, if this substance was legally produced – like alcohol – it’s likely deaths caused by it would be greatly reduced if not ceased.

And while the use of other illicit drugs might be riskier, the argument for legalising them is their production could be quality controlled, availability could be governed, treatment for problematic use could be broadened, and the harms associated with the criminal justice system removed.

Indeed, if Australia adopted a policy of legalising and regulating all illicit substances, the power that the transnational criminal networks wield would fade away, the floods of contraband coming over the borders would dry up, and the police would be free to focus on crimes with real victims.

Pill Testing Saves Lives, Heavy Policing Takes Them

Alex Ross-King was only 19, when she died from a drug overdose attending January’s FOMO festival in Parramatta. Last week, at the NSW coronial inquiry into six drug-related deaths at festivals, it was heard that Alex had taken several MDMA capsules prior to the event so as to avoid police detection.

Event attendees taking all their drugs before an event to avoid arrest is referred to as “preloading”. Harm reduction experts have been warning for years that heavy policing at festivals is causing punters to partake in risky drug taking behaviours, like this, to prevent being arrested.

If Ms Ross-King wasn’t expecting to be confronted with a show of brute force on arrival, she likely wouldn’t have taken numerous pills at once. Besides there being no point, she’d be afraid of the consequences. But, in this case, the fear of police was greater than the fear of a drug overdose.

Since the early 90s, people in the Netherlands have been able to access pill testing services at festivals. This means a medical professional can warn them if their drugs are too strong or toxic. They don’t have to fear arrest and they can make an informed decision about taking the drugs.

And as NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian again pushes her “just say no” to drugs stance, rather than conceding a proven harm reduction intervention just might save lives, it feels to many like we’re on some sickening roundabout, with the only progress made being the rising number of deaths.

A head-in-the-sand approach

“This is not the first tragic death in NSW because a young person has preloaded, due to their fear of police drug dog operations,” said NSW Greens MLC David Shoebridge. “Unless we change the law, I fear it won’t be the last.”

James Munro died as a result of taking all his drugs at once on spotting police with dogs at the 2013 Defqon.1 festival. To avoid getting arrested, the 23-year-old downed several pills at once and half an hour after gaining entry into the event, he fell into a coma, and never regained consciousness.

“We have a government that’s hellbent on a zero tolerance 1950s approach to drug law enforcement: a theory that abstinence will somehow keep young people safe,” Mr Shoebridge continued. “That approach has been proven tragically wrong.”

The NSW Greens justice spokesperson also stressed that there’s always a number of young people who experiment with drugs. And it’s about time authorities admitted the drug war has failed and look towards alternative measures like pill testing, or further, legalising and regulating MDMA.

3,4-Methyl​enedioxy​methamphetamine (MDMA)

Veteran drug law reformist Dr Alex Wodak explained that ecstasy or MDMA is the main drug youths are taking at music events. An oft-cited 2010 Lancet article found MDMA to be “one of the least risky” of 20 drugs considered, although like all others, it’s “toxicity is greater with higher doses”.

“Doses on the black market have been creeping up and are now not infrequently in a concerning range,” the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation president added. “Also, some samples include dangerous contaminants resulting from faulty manufacturing practices.”

The physician further told Sydney Criminal Lawyers that in relation to legalising the drug “the lowest risk form of ecstasy would have to be regulated with careful supervision of the manufacturing process and production of a known and safe dose”.

But, the reality is that MDMA remains illegal, and so does pill testing. And this means that the hundreds of thousands of Australians who take ecstasy annually are consuming a drug that could be relatively benign, but at present, can be rather like playing a game of Russian roulette if taken.

Intimidation, fear and anxiety

Tasked with investigating the drug-related deaths of six festivalgoers, NSW deputy state coroner Harriet Grahame decided to take herself to a music festival in mid-June to see what all the saturation policing fuss was about.

And the coroner described what she found as “full on”. The “lines and lines of police and dogs” she was confronted with made her “feel nervous”. Ms Grahame was surprised by “how intense it was”, as viewing it gave her a “strange sensation”, even though she had “nothing to fear”.

Mr Shoebridge related that he’s been at the entrance to numerous festivals in his capacity as an MP, who’s had “long and deep engagement with the NSW police”. And while he’s usually accompanied by dozens of Sniff Off campaign volunteers at the time, he still feels intimidated.

“The fact that someone in a position of authority like a state coroner feels intimidated should make the government reflect on how intimidating it is for an ordinary young person,” the Greens MLC emphasised.

A question of priorities

In response to a question regarding the use of brute force by NSW authorities as a way of preventing drug deaths at festivals, emergency physician Dr David Caldicott said, “I’m not aware of any public health intervention that required brute force that was in the slightest way successful.”

“What we are seeing in NSW is some sort of macabre political theatre,” the long-time pill testing advocate continued, “there is no evidence to support it, and that for which there is evidence is being ignored.”

As part of the Pill Testing Australia crew, Dr Caldicott was the attending doctor on site at both the first and second government-sanctioned Australian pill testing trials that were held at Canberra’s Groovin the Moo festival in 2018 and last April.

In permitting the trials, the enlightened ACT government has been complicit in having possibly saved the lives of around nine young Australians, whose drug samples were found to contain potentially lethal substances, and therefore, were binned rather than taken.

In NSW, five young people died as a result of untested drugs last summer. The situation in this state reminded Dr Caldicott of a quote from a book he’d picked up earlier this year in the Netherlands: a country, he said, “overtly makes drugs a health issue and is ingenious in its approaches”.

“You cannot control an activity by merely shouting out that it is forbidden,” wrote Jock Young in 1971’s The Drugtakers: The Social Meaning of Drug Use. “You must base your measures on facts, and these facts must come from sources that are valued by the people you are trying to influence.”

Leading others into a ditch

However, Ms Berejiklian doesn’t favour the same literature as Dr Caldicott. Instead, she prefers to bang on about how people should avoid taking drugs, while she quotes “facts” – which are sourced from who knows where – about there being a lack of evidence to show that pill testing works.

Dr Wodak said that the leader of the NSW Liberals “claims to be unimpressed by the evidence”, however when she established an expert panel last year to investigate safety at festivals following two drug-related deaths, she specifically told the panel not to consider pill testing.

The doctor set out that while critics argue pill testing hasn’t been evaluated by randomised controlled trials, this is because it’s an environmental intervention, which rules that out. But, it’s still open to peruse the on-the-ground evidence relating to its successful use in other jurisdictions.

“It is hard not to be impressed by the breadth and depth of expert opinion overwhelmingly supporting pill testing in Australia,” Dr Wodak added. “This includes a wide range of medical opinion, as well as academics, researchers and clinicians working in the alcohol and drug field.”

Blood on their hands

The premier dodged questions from reporters last Sunday regarding whether saturation policing at festivals is leading youths to preload and subsequently die. All she had for the NSW constituency was her usual: “don’t take illegal substances, they’re illegal for a reason.”

It’s an old harm reduction adage that new strategies to combat drug war casualties always face harsh resistance. This seems to be especially so in NSW, which was once a pioneer in establishing needle exchanges and a safe injecting room, both of which Dr Wodak brought across the line.

“If this premier doesn’t support pill testing, then the next one will, or the one after the next one,” Dr Wodak concluded. “Deaths will continue, unfortunately, and each premier will be pilloried for every death from now on, until pill testing is approved and implemented.”

It’s High Time to Decriminalise Drugs

Head of the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry into the Drug Ice Professor Dan Howard SC has requested a six month extension prior to the tabling of the final report, as it needs to properly consider “a key issue” that’s emerged, which is the decriminalisation of ice and other drugs.

The professor made the request to NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian in a letter dated 21 May. He noted that removing criminal sanctions around the personal possession and use of illicit drugs is not only a priority concern in NSW, but it’s also being agitated for in “many jurisdictions internationally”.

The inquiry into crystal meth was established by Ms Berejiklian last November. It’s significant that it wants more time to properly evaluate decriminalisation, when you consider the long list of regressive measures taken by the Coalition in relation to illicit drug use at the end of last year.

And there’s support for the decriminalisation of ice and other drugs coming from prominent sectors in the community. The NSW Bar Association’s submission calls for the removal of criminal sanctions, and both the NSW and ACT synods of the Uniting Church are on the same page.

On everybody’s lips

“Given the reluctance of the Berejiklian government to objectively consider the overwhelming evidence on how to reduce the harm from drugs,” said NSW Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann, “it’s extremely encouraging that the commission is dedicating enough time to look into this issue.”

Not only has the premier blocked her ears when it comes to the push for drug decriminalisation, but she also refused to consider pill testing at festivals while the death toll was rising last summer. And by the end of the festival season, a total of five young Australians had unnecessarily lost their lives.

Faehrmann outlined that the inquiry has heard compelling evidence from numerous experts. This includes the Public Defenders Office, which noted in its submission that former law enforcement officials have stated, “Australia cannot arrest its way out of the methamphetamine problem”.

“A decriminalised model would ensure people are able to seek help when they need it by diverting resources away from the criminal system and towards the health system,” Ms Faehrmann continued, adding that police would then be able to “tackle serious crime like domestic violence”.

A step towards regulation  

“Decriminalisation plus improved and readily available health and social support would significantly reduce drug-related deaths, disease and crime,” said veteran drug law reformist Dr Alex Wodak. “It would benefit people who use drugs, their families and the general community.”

The Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation president stressed that politicians also need to look at why a highly-potent drug like ice has caught on in Australia, whereas in other countries, such as the UK, it never has. And there are two chief reasons for this, according to the doctor.

Firstly, the isolation of the country, the huge law enforcement effort geared towards drugs and the risky nature of the business make it “very lucrative”. And Dr Wodak explained that as getting caught is not a certainty and the justice system is slow-moving, these act as little deterrent.

The second reason ice has taken off is as drug dealers and traffickers have to avoid detection, it leaves the smuggling of “more powerful, more concentrated and more dangerous drugs” an easier option. So, where less potent powdered speed was once the amphetamine of choice, now it’s ice.

“Decriminalisation of drugs is certainly needed,” Dr Wodak remarked. But, he added that it’s no cure-all. “Just as decriminalisation is better than criminalisation of drugs, regulating as much of the drug market as possible is where we need to end up.”

The Portuguese model

“Portugal’s successful 2001 reforms emphasised that removing sanctions for drug personal possession and use and the expansion and improvement of treatment,” Dr Wodak told Sydney Criminal Lawyers. And he underscored that decriminalisation and more treatment are both needed.

The Portuguese government decriminalised the personal use and possession of all illicit substances at a time when their use was highly problematic. And eighteen years on, the use of illegal drugs hasn’t exploded, but drug-related deaths and HIV infections have plummeted.

Today, individuals in Portugal found with an amount of an illicit drug in their possession deemed personal are sent before a dissuasion panel comprised of a doctor, a lawyer and a social worker. The panel members can recommend prescribed drug treatment, a minor fine or no punishment at all.

Ms Faehrmann recently returned from a fact-finding trip to Portugal. And she reports that the system is “extremely effective because it recognises that only about 10 percent of people who use drugs will ever become addicted”.

The NSW Greens drug and harm minimisation spokesperson added that the vast majority of people who go before the panels are “able to get on with their lives with no criminal record or any other distressing or degrading experience”. And the courts and law enforcement can focus elsewhere.

Time for pollies to listen

“The tide appears to have definitely turned when it comes to public opinion concerning the criminalisation of some drugs,” Ms Faehrmann continued. “I believe it’s inevitable that all drugs will be decriminalised in NSW.”

However, she put forth that it took years following public calls around assisted dying and abortion for politicians to bring about law reforms, which is a point that Dr Wodak echoed regarding the long gap between the initial decriminalisation of homosexuality and the coming of marriage equality.

“The criminalisation of homosexuality meant the heterosexual majority punishing people with a minority sexual preference involving consenting adults in private,” the doctor outlined. “The criminalisation of drugs involves the majority punishing people with a minority drug preference.”

And the drug law reformist added that over recent years the number of “retired and even some serving police commissioners” that have been advising the public that it’s impossible for the nation to arrest or imprison its way out of its current drug problems has been rising.

“This is surely a message in code for our political leaders to begin to redefine drugs as primarily a health problem and start funding drug treatment properly,” Dr Wodak concluded. “Now the Uniting Church in Australia is repeating this message.”

Cannabis and Driving: The Unfairness of NSW Drug Driving Laws

On 6 June, the ACT Legislative Assembly Standing Committee on Health tabled its report on Labor backbencher Michael Pettersson’s private member’s bill to legalise the personal possession and use of cannabis in the capital territory.

And the committee outlined that it overwhelmingly supports the legislation, subject to a number of recommendations, the ninth of which being that the “ACT government collaborates with ACT Policing to adopt a cannabis drug driving test that determines impairment”.

The ACT has a similar method of roadside drug testing to the highly derided NSW regime. In this state, NSW police test drivers for the mere presence of a select four drugs, one of which is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC): the psychoactive component of the cannabis plant.

Roadside testing does little for traffic safety, as officers have no way of gauging whether a driver is actually intoxicated. But, it does act as a backdoor method of penalising people for drug use. And as THC remains in the body for a long time, penalties can relate to consumption weeks prior.

But, over in the States, where cannabis use is increasingly the norm, authorities aren’t concerned with penalising people over what’s an accessible legal medicine in 33 states, while in 10 states and the District of Columbia, it’s a lawful recreational drug that a quarter of the population can use.

Instead, the US government and policing agencies are now focusing on how THC affects an individual’s driving capacity, and whether these effects make drivers more prone to causing traffic accidents.

Two very different drugs

“That marijuana usage increases a driver’s risk of crashing is not clearly established,” wrote David Randall Peterman, a US analyst in transportation policy. Some studies, he found, estimate “a small increase” in the risk of crashing, while others “estimate little or no increase in the likelihood”.

Mr Peterman detailed his findings in the Congressional Research Service report Marijuana Use and Highway Safety, which was tabled in US Congress on 14 May this year. The Congress-commissioned report provides a summary of relevant research into driving after cannabis use.

The analyst points out that as the legal use of cannabis grows, so too do concerns over its impact on road safety in a similar way to alcohol. Although, he determines that the differences in the effects of the two drugs, may challenge the assumption of simply treating cannabis and drink driving the same.

While alcohol is a depressant absorbed into the blood and metabolised quickly, with almost no traces within 24 hours, THC is a stimulant that’s metabolised rapidly as well, however it’s stored in the fat cells, so traces can still be present several weeks after consumption.

Difficult to pin down

As of last month, 18 US states have enacted laws that test for specified levels of THC in a driver’s body. If these are exceeded it constitutes driver impairment and is therefore unlawful. This is similar in the way that driving with 0.08 blood alcohol content or over is illegal in the States.

However, despite these laws, Peterman finds that determining THC impairment levels is not as straightforward as it is with alcohol. While the psychoactive part of THC drops dramatically after an hour of use, due to the way it’s metabolised the non-psychoactive traces remain for weeks.

Other reasons why the effects of THC on driving performance are relatively unknown is the until recently complete illegality of the drug, the fluctuating THC potency between plants, as well as the different effects it can produce through various methods of ingestion.

And the results from studies on the association between cannabis use and crash risk are also “inconsistent”. Peterman cites one study that found the increased risk of crashing after its use was 1.83 times that of an unimpaired driver, while another study found no association at all.

Safer than alcohol

A 2017 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration driving simulator study found that cannabis-dosed drivers took fewer risks than when they weren’t under the influence of the drug. And it was surmised that drivers conscious of their state drove more carefully to compensate.

The NHTSA researchers also found that drivers who had been drinking “tended to drive faster than the speed limit”, drove closer to the car in front of them, and in general, took more risks than when they weren’t under the effects of alcohol.

Although, a 2017 National Academy of Science report and a 2018 National Institutes of Health study both found that cannabis use increased the risk of motor vehicle accidents. The NAS report found there was substantial statistical evidence to support the heightened risk.

A standard still eludes

Peterman recommended that the US Congress continues to invest in research on “whether a qualitative standard can be established that correlates the level of THC in a person’s body and the level of impairment”, as well as collecting better data in regard to cannabis and driver use of it.

“The concentration of THC in a person’s blood rises rapidly after consumption, then drops rapidly, within an hour or two,” Peterman concluded towards the end of his report. “Impairing effects appear rapidly, but may remain for some time.”

And due to this, the analyst states that the amount of THC in a person’s body is a poor indicator of impairment, or, indeed, whether the individual has actually used it recently or whether they were “simply exposed to second-hand smoke”.

An unjust drug war tactic

Recently, Lismore Magistrate David Heilpern ruled that Nicole Spackman was not guilty of drug driving, because the THC in her system was due to passive smoking. And in 2016, he found Joseph Carrall innocent of the same charge because he last smoked a joint nine days prior to testing.

Throughout the state, there’s a growing awareness that the NSW roadside drug testing regime is a flawed system that’s unjustly punishing people for cannabis driving whilst they’re not actually under the influence of the drug.

And while the US report sets out that there’s no clear way to determine the effects of cannabis use on driver performance as yet, it’s very clear in the assertion that THC is a substance that stays present in the body for weeks after it no longer has an impairing effect upon an individual.

So, the only conclusion to draw is that regardless of its initial aim, today, roadside drug testing in NSW is being used to penalise a great many drivers for using medicine legally, or having traces of an inactive illegal substance in their body, which in some cases is through no fault of their own.

The Vic Drug Law Reform Report Part 2: Law Enforcement and Prohibition

As reported in Part 1, the Victorian parliamentary Inquiry into Drug Law Reform report was tabled in state parliament last week. It recommends a large number of sensible policy approaches to illicit substances, many of which relate to drug law enforcement.

Indeed, the report acknowledges that law enforcement strategies have had little impact on eradicating drug supply and demand, but what it has done is increased the harms associated with outlawed substances, including contributing to the growth of “black market crime.”

The document delivers recommendations regarding law enforcement that include decriminalisation for certain offences and an overhaul of drug driving laws, so there’s an emphasis on testing for impairment levels, rather than mere traces of illicit substances as currently happens.

Drug offending

The report identified a range of programs used by courts to address substance use disorders, when they’re found to be an underlying cause of people committing crimes. And the committee recommended these programs be expanded.

One of these is the Court Integrated Services Program. It provides services, such as case management, for offenders with substance use disorders four months prior to sentencing, with the aim of reducing reoffending and promoting safety.

The Drug Court of Victoria is also earmarked for expansion. It allows individuals whose offending is drug or alcohol related to undergo a treatment program, rather than incarceration. If the offender fails to complete the treatment or reoffends, they can be ordered to serve a custodial sentence.

And the drug law reform committee also recommends treating personal drug possession and use “as a health issue rather than a criminal justice issue,” meaning that these offences would become decriminalised.

Law enforcement approval

Executive officer of the Yarra Drug and Health Forum Greg Denham said “quite frankly our emphasis on policing and prisons to stop drug use have failed and we need to take a new direction, with special emphasis on health, human rights and harm reduction.”

Mr Denham has keen insight into the issue of drug law enforcement as he’s a former Victoria police senior sergeant, who served seventeen years on the force. He believes the inquiry has drawn a line in the sand whereby efforts attempting to address drug harms can now be redirected.

The harm reduction advocate agrees with the “general philosophy” of the report, which would leave “the courts to deal with more problematic and difficult cases,” as “the majority of people that use illicit drugs don’t cause any harms to themselves or others and they should be treated accordingly.”

“The report makes sense from a number of perspectives, not the least of which would be the massive saving of public funding if we moved toward decriminalisation models, such as that currently used in Portugal,” Denham further made clear.

The most pressing points

Leading drug law reformist Dr Alex Wodak considers the decriminalisation of personal possession, the regulating and taxing of recreational cannabis, and the expansion of opioid substitution treatment (OST) as the most significant recommendations.

The president of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation also pinpoints the trialling of the use of the pharmaceutical-grade opioid hydromorphone for individual’s that haven’t responded to other OST as important.

“Many countries have adopted these approaches some time ago,” the doctor told Sydney Criminal Lawyers®. He added that others are “now seriously considering or have approved, but not yet implemented, a number of these policies”

“It’s important to remember that there is now a large and growing consensus that the war on drugs has failed comprehensively,” Dr Wodak continued.

The legacy of the prohibition

According to Dr Wodak, “deaths, disease and costs to the economy from cigarettes dwarf” those caused by all psychoactive drugs. Alcohol is next in line. And bringing up the rear are the harms caused by prescription and illicit drugs.

The drug law reformist posed the question as to why ice suddenly became so readily available in this country. Answer: “the lore of prohibition” is that “drug traffickers try to minimise the chance of being detected, so they try to traffic more powerful drugs that occupy smaller volumes.”

Alcohol prohibition in the US saw beer disappear “replaced by wine and spirits,” Dr Wodak outlined. But, as soon as prohibition was over, “beer reappeared.” And heroin became the replacement a decade after some Asian countries banned the smoking of opium.

The need for reform is drastic

“The more and the longer we press down on the drug market, the more dangerous the drugs in the market become,” the doctor stressed. “There is growing awareness that current policies are not just ineffective, but also dangerous.”

Indeed, in the face of all this evidence, let it be hoped that Victorian authorities heed the recommendations of the report, which have already produced positive outcomes elsewhere around the globe. And from there, the various Australian jurisdictions take the hint and do the same.

The Vic Drug Law Reform Report Part 1: A Sensible Approach to Drugs

The long-awaited Victorian parliamentary Inquiry into Drug Law Reform report was released last week. The 50 recommendations delivered read like a checklist of proposals that drug law reformists and harm reduction experts have long been advocating for.

Significantly, politicians of all persuasions have recommended a much-needed sensible approach to illicit substances, in an acknowledgement that the intensified drug law enforcement approach that’s marked the close to fifty years of the war on drugs is failure.

Inquiry chair Labor MP Geoff Howard remarked in the forward to the report, that “there is growing recognition that a dominant focus on law enforcement strategies… has contributed to increased harms, such as overdoses and black market crime.”

Reducing youth harms

“We keep saying that we cannot arrest our way out of this problem, yet year on year the amount of drug arrests increases,” stressed Reason Party MLC Fiona Patten. “It is very clear that current policy isn’t working and the government needs to accept these recommendations.”

The inquiry recommendations include that Victorian authorities look towards decriminalising personal possession and use, trialling pill testing at events and removing drug detection dog operations at music festivals.

“At the moment, the war on drugs is a war on our young people,” Ms Patten continued. She explained that a third of Victorians under the age of 30 admit to using illegal drugs, and she doubts this figure is likely to change.

Swimming with the tide

Ms Patten initiated the drug law reform inquiry that received 230 submissions and held nine days of hearings. And she’s no stranger to sparking inquiries that have successful outcomes.

The Reason Party leader instigated the end of life choices inquiry, which saw voluntary assisted dying laws passed last November. And her private member’s bill prompted an inquiry, which saw the Andrews government agree to a trial of the Richmond medically supervised injecting centre (MSIC).

The positive outcomes produced by MSICs around the globe, as well as the Kings Cross injecting facility, are proof “that a progressive approach to drug law really works,” Patten made clear. Not only is the health of injecting drug users improved, but so is the amenity of the local community.

And the inquiry’s recommendations are in line with this type of reform. “We can limp on with our current policy or we can make some real changes,” Ms Patten explained, “by moving the focus of drug offences to health treatment rather than criminalisation.”

Recreational cannabis

The heavy-handed law enforcement approach to drugs embraced by Australian authorities began in the US, when Nixon launched the drug war in 1971. And further back, the prohibitionist system now enshrined in the UN drug conventions was also provoked by the States a century ago.

However, the use of pot for pleasure is now legal in nine US states. And Canada is set to legalise recreational cannabis later this year. The 23rd inquiry recommendation suggests investigating these developments with a view to implementing a system of legalised cannabis for “adult use” in Victoria.

Last year, the committee members paid a visit to Colorado, the first US state to sell retail recreational cannabis. Tax generated by the market has been funnelled into schools and health services. “The regulation of cannabis businesses in Colorado was inspiring,” Ms Patten recalled.

And patients who use medicinal cannabis will be glad to note that the inquiry recommends both the state and federal government slash the red tape preventing access to cannabis medicines, which despite being legal, are currently inaccessible to the vast majority of people who need them.

Opioid substitution therapy

The report states that “the main form of treatment for opioid dependence in Australia is opioid substitution therapy (OST), where the drug of dependence is substituted with controlled opioid medication, mainly methadone and buprenorphine.”

The inquiry makes a number of OST recommendations, including expanding access to treatments, that the government fund dispensing fees to remove barriers to access, and establishing a dedicated arm of government to oversee OST policy.

Ms Patten’s one misgiving is that the report doesn’t feature the Heroin Assisted Treatment program in Switzerland and Canada, which provides heroin to people, who don’t respond to OST. Evidence shows it’s a pathway to stopping, and 99 percent of Swiss participants stay clear of crime.

It’s not the first time

The Andrews government now has six months to respond to the report. Ms Patten believes “the political climate is right to embrace these recommendations.” And she points to the 1980s HIV/AIDS crisis, when the federal government became a world leader in drug reform and harm reduction.

“Victoria has a chance to do the same with drug reform and the recommendations of the report give the government a fantastic foundation to build on,” she concluded.

Part 2 of the report on the Victorian drug law reform inquiry reflects on law enforcement proposals and the problems of prohibition.

Reaping the Benefits of a Regulated Cannabis Market

Developers in the US state of Colorado announced last month that if they receive the final approval from the city council, they’ll be opening the world’s first marijuana mall. Chris Elkins and Sean Sheridan said they’ve already obtained city permits and a building has been purchased.

The mall, which will contain five cannabis dispensaries, is set to open next April in the town of Trinidad. Recreational marijuana in Colorado is now a billion dollar a year industry that generated $198.5 million in tax revenue last year.

Colorado and Washington were the first two US states to legalise recreational cannabis on November 6 2012. And since that time, six more states have legalised recreational use, which means one in five Americans now live in a jurisdiction where they’re free to take pot for pleasure.

Get with the times

Many are heralding the economic benefits the burgeoning legalised weed markets are bringing to these states as a “green rush,” much like the mid-nineteenth century Californian gold rush. But unlike gold, cannabis isn’t a scarce resource, and the growth industry is unlikely to run dry.

And as Australian authorities continue their decades-long heavy-handed law enforcement approach to the recreational cannabis, the experience in the States is leading many local commentators to question the government’s continuing cannabis marijuana prohibition stance.

Reaping the benefits

The legal cannabis industry in the US was worth $6.6 billion last year, according to New Frontier Data. That included $1.9 billion for recreational sales, as well as $4.7 billion via the medicinal cannabis market. The use of marijuana for medicinal purposes is now legal in 29 US states.

The states of California, Massachusetts and Maine all voted to legalise recreational cannabis use last November. The sixth-largest economy in the world, California is set to commence retail sales on January 1 next year, while Massachusetts and Maine are following in mid-2018.

And with the addition of the Californian market, it’s estimated that the US cannabis industry will be worth $24.1 billion by 2025.

However, even before these additional markets begin, it’s been estimated that as of January this year, there were 122,814 full-time jobs being supported by the legal cannabis market. And 57,958 of them have been created by the retail sale of recreational marijuana in the five states where it’s available.

These figures include those that cultivate the plant, along with retail outlet owners and employees. But, they also take into consideration lawyers advising cannabis businesses, realtors specialising in commercial cannabis real estate, and electricians consulting grow operations.

Viva Las Vegas

Nevada was the last big player to set up a recreational marketplace. On July 1 this year, it began legal sales. However, it got off to a rocky start, as the first licence to transport the product from the farm directly to the store was issued two weeks later.

This left retail outlets concerned that they were going to run out of marijuana products as demand was better than expected during the first fortnight. Dispensaries in that state raked in more than $27 million in the first month of recreational sales, which generated $3.6 million dollars in taxes.

The largest cannabis store in the world opened its doors in downtown Las Vegas this month. NuWu Cannabis Market is an initiative run by the region’s Indigenous Paiute people. While taxes on their products are the same, the revenue is going towards funding health services for their community.

The Colorado experience

The first legal recreational cannabis purchase in the United States this century took place in Denver, Colorado on January 1 2014. And ever since, the Mountain State’s regulated market has been held up as the shining example of the benefits recreational marijuana can bring.

Victorian Reason MLC Fiona Patten advocates for legal recreational cannabis in Australia. She paid a visit to Colorado in July to get a firsthand experience of the state’s regulated market.

Ms Patten said she was “incredibly impressed” by what she witnessed. Whilst there, she met with a whole range of organisations, including the departments of health and finance, along with the police, to find out how the industry is fairing.

“Everyone’s fear is that the legal industry seeps into the illegal industry. And there are protections on that,” Ms Patten told Sydney Criminal Lawyers®. “They believe that 85 percent of all cannabis that is sold in Colorado is sold through the legal system. We can’t say that for tobacco in Australia.”

For the wider community

The tax revenue generated by recreational cannabis sales in Colorado has been funnelled back into community healthcare services, including drug rehabilitation, as well as providing the funding to build new schools and for the allocation of grants to educational facilities.

As Ms Patten pointed out, Pueblo County in Colorado is going to begin providing grants to all high school graduates beginning their university education as of next year. And on top of all this, the Reason Party leader noted “there’s lots of consumer education.”

State officials in Colorado have reported the availability of the drug has had no overall adverse effects since it began being sold in retail stores. Cannabis products are heavily regulated, and they’re sold in childproof containers.

“They’ve got this amazing seed to sale tracking system,” Ms Patten continued. It’s required that each plant for sale is tagged with a radio frequency identification chip. “So, every seed that a licenced cultivator grows is tracked right to when the person buys the product that it created.”

The Australian scene

A 2013 National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre report found that Australian law enforcement activities cost over a billion dollars a year. The 2015-16 Illicit Drug Data report found that cannabis continues to be the most dominant illicit drug in Australia in terms of arrests, seizures and use.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated that Australians spent in excess of $3.6 billion on cannabis in 2010. This is more than the $2.97 billion they spent on wine over the year 2015-16.

And an Essential Media poll taken late last year found that 55 percent of those surveyed supported cannabis being taxed and regulated like alcohol and tobacco.

For Ms Patten, it’s a no-brainer. “We are spending billions of dollars on prohibiting cannabis, when we could be earning billions of dollars on cultivating and regulating it,” she concluded. “We give this money to organised crime. Why wouldn’t we be giving it to our schools and hospitals?”

Heavy-Handed Police Raid Sydney Nightclub, but Find No Drugs and Press No Charges

NSW authorities continue their assault on Sydney’s nightlife. This time the police raided Club 77 in Darlinghurst. At around 11.30 pm last Saturday night, a group of NSW police officers, with a sniffer dog, entered the nightclub and began searching clientele and staff.

Club owner Matty Bickett broke the news of the police raid in a Facebook post that went viral on Sunday. He reported that the officers made no arrests and found no drugs. Bickett wrote that the “over the top policing” had left him with “a bad taste” in his mouth.

“We had 15 police just storm the venue, out of nowhere. There was probably about 100 to 120 kids in the club. We’re only 180 capacity,” Bickett explained. He went on to say that the officers began strip searching people, some in public and others in the toilets.

The police prevented people from entering the club, as well as dragging others out.

Strip searches and a lack of respect

Bickett was particularly upset that the headline act – who’d flown in from Melbourne to DJ – was himself strip searched and then barred from re-entering the venue. “They wouldn’t let him back in the club, which is pretty terrible PR,” he told Sydney Criminal Lawyers®.

According to Bickett, the police didn’t want to talk to him, or his business partner, who’s the licensee. The officers didn’t serve them with any paperwork, or explain the legalities of what they were doing.

Some club-goers reported being searched as they were making their way to the venue from the train station that night. The officers carried out strip searches in the toilet cubicles in the club. And one man was allegedly tasered in the back alley.

After the raid, the police left, only to return about two hours later minus the dog. They began removing punters from the club that they believed were intoxicated.

Cracking down on nightlife

The raid on 77 is part of a new policing approach, Bickett said he’d been told. He explained that the Saturday night incident is to become “pretty standard” police behaviour, and the venue is “to expect more of this.”

But the club owner can’t understand why, as the atmosphere of the venue has changed over recent years. They’ve recently renovated and are catering for an older crowd these days.

“We weren’t doing anything dodgy. We just run a business,” Bickett said, and added that many of the venues in the local area have shut down due to the effects of the lockout laws. However, his club has “managed to stay on,” since the lockout and last drink restrictions were introduced into Sydney’s CBD back in February 2014.

More of the same

This is not the first time NSW police have taken a heavy-handed approach to Sydney’s nightclubs. Last December, about 40 officers stormed Candy’s Apartment in Kings Cross. At the time, the police imposed a 72-hour temporary closure order on the venue.

The raid took place after a three month investigation into drug supply in the Kings Cross area under Strike Force Roby. On the night of that raid, a 21-year-old man was arrested outside the club for allegedly being in possession of 60 MDMA capsules.

Charlie Mancuso, the owner of the nightclub, said at the time that police had to show they were doing something otherwise they were going to lose their jobs. He called on patrons to fight for their rights and show their displeasure.

Increasing the harms of drug use

Taking drug detection dogs into late-night venues and music festivals is a dangerous approach for police to take. Harm reduction experts have long pointed out that using sniffer dogs actually leads people to partake in hazardous drug taking behaviours.

These practices include preloading, which is when a person takes all of their drugs before arriving at an event to avoid detection. And another common practice is panic overdosing, when a person takes all of their drugs at once on seeing a drug dog.

The death of James Munro at Defqon 1 in 2013 is believed to have been a case of panic overdosing. The young man is said to have taken all his drugs at once on seeing a drug detection dog operation.

People attending nightclubs do partake in drugs. This is well-known. And walking sniffer dogs through venues late at night is only encouraging people to take dangerous quantities of any drugs they might possess, so as to avoid detection.

High Alert

Since late in April, Victoria police have taken a similar approach under Operation Safenight. On Saturday nights in Melbourne’s nightclub precincts, officers are currently using sniffer dogs, searching people and raiding venues.

In response to the police operation, the High Alert campaign has been set up to build public awareness about the approach police are taking, as well as providing legal advice to those who’ve been affected by police tactics.

High Alert is run by a group of harm reduction advocates, health practitioners and legal professionals. They’re concerned that the police operation is not only an attack on people’s civil liberties, but it’s also making Melbourne’s nightlife more dangerous.

An evidence-based approach

Victoria police launched the crackdown in response to the drug-related deaths of three people due to a deadly batch of MDMA that was being sold in Chapel Street nightclubs in January. The MDMA capsules were not pure. They’d been mixed with the more dangerous drug NBOMe.

However, the tried and tested way to reduce drug-related deaths is not more law enforcement. It’s pill testing – or drug checking – a method that’s been used in European countries for decades. It allows a drug taker to make an informed decision about what they’re about to ingest.

Drugs can be tested at booths at music festivals, or at a High Street service in a nightclub precinct. A trained professional uses laboratory equipment that allows them to tell the owner of the drugs what they’re made up of. And if they’re found to be dangerous, then the person can refrain from taking them.

Back at 77

Bickett and his business partner have been left wondering whether police are going to take any further steps in regards to Saturday night’s raid. “There’s been no discussion between us and them. They just come in and treat you like a criminal.” he said. “There was people in tears. It just doesn’t look good.”

“To have that on a Saturday night is a bit of a kick in the teeth, especially when they didn’t make any arrests or breach us,” Bickett concluded. “Haven’t got a fine. Haven’t got anything.”

It’s High Time! Hemp Seed Food Will Soon Be Legal

In a landmark decision, Australian federal and state food ministers have agreed that hemp seed food will soon be legally available for consumption. The Australian and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation approved the move, at a Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in Adelaide last Friday.

The decision comes in the wake of a Food Standards Australia and New Zealand meeting in March that gave the green light for the sale of foods derived from hemp seeds that are low in THC – the psychoactive component of the cannabis plant.

A communique released after the COAG meeting outlined that the ministers had received a Swinburne University of Technology report regarding the consumption of low-THC food and the effect they could have on roadside drug testing operations.

The report found that it “is highly unlikely” that the consumption of hemp seed food would result in any positive saliva, blood and urine tests. “In light of these findings ministers supported the draft standard that will allow low-THC hemp seeds to be sold as a food,” the communique reads.

The change is expected to come into effect in six months, in both Australia and New Zealand. A range of state and territory legislation that currently outlaw the sale of the food will need to be amended. This will open up the international hemp seed food market, which is estimated to be a billion dollar a year industry.

A globally accepted food

Up until last Friday, Australia and New Zealand were the only countries in the world where the consumption of hemp seed food was prohibited. Under standard 1.4.4 of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, all species of cannabis have been prohibited from being added to or sold as food.

Hemp seeds are produced by the hemp plant, which is low in THC. While both marijuana and hemp are strains of Cannabis sativa, hemp has been specifically cultivated to produce industrial fibre, oils and seeds. You can smoke hemp till the cows come home, and it won’t get you high.

Hemp seed foods are widely available throughout Europe and North America. In the States, the consumption of hemp food is legal but the production is not. Australian producers see this as a lucrative market to step into.

Currently, China is the largest hemp seed producer in the world, followed by countries such as France, Canada, South Korea, the Netherlands and Chile.

A boom for the Australian hemp industry

Secretary of the Australian HEMP Party Andrew Kavasilas welcomes the long overdue decision. “I’ve been growing under hemp permits since 1999,” he said. “In NSW, it wasn’t until 2008 that we actually had a Hemp Act, but it was only related to fibre.”

Those in the Australian industry have been “itching” for the food to become legalise, Mr Kavasilas said. He’s also the founding director of Vitahemp Australia. “We’ve actually had to accelerate our plans on winter cropping,” he told Sydney Criminal Lawyers®. “We’ve got in excess of 30 hectares going.”

The Australian hemp industry has stagnated due to the ban on hemp foods, Kavasilas explained. He pointed to a 2013 Tasmanian government inquiry into the state’s industrial hemp industry, which found “the ban on hemp seed food was holding the entire industry back.”

The beneficial seed

Hemp seeds are said to be the most nutritionally complete food source in the world. They have a balance of omega 3 and 6, along with Iron, Vitamin E and all of the essential amino acids. They’re high in protein, and can be eaten whole, pressed as an oil or ground into a powder.

The seeds can produce a variety of different foods. They can be eaten as a grain as part of muesli or cereals. They can be used to produce non-dairy milk and ice cream. And they can be added to a wide variety of different meals to reap their nutritional benefits.

So then why are hemp seeds illegal in Australia?

Well according to Mr Kavasilas, unlike marijuana and its products, hemp was not prohibited under the various United Nations drug control conventions. It’s continued to be utilised in countries like India, China and Russia.

However, it was the United States that banned hemp in the early twentieth century. This was done amidst the “reefer madness” anti-marijuana hysteria of the time, and many believe it served the interests of big business to be rid of the versatile plant.

The US ban influenced other western nations to follow suit. So what we’re seeing now is the reintroduction of industrial hemp in the western world.

Roadside drug testing

The Australian hemp industry has been campaigning for hemp seed food to be legalised for decades. However, authorities have been hesitant to allow this to happen, over concerns the low-THC foods may interfere with the results of roadside drug testing programs.

The problem with roadside drug testing in Australia is that a positive reading can be registered for tiny traces of certain drugs in a driver’s system. Along with THC, police test for MDMA and amphetamines, via a saliva test.

When police carry out random breath testing for alcohol, they’re testing for levels of driver impairment – hence the categories of low, mid and high range drink driving. This is an approach based on research that’s shown certain levels of alcohol in a driver’s blood lead to increased risks when they’re behind the wheel of a car.

However, roadside drug testing does not test for impairment.

A grey area

As it was announced at the COAG meeting, the Swinburne University report said it was “highly unlikely” that someone who had been consuming hemp seed food would test positive for roadside drug testing.

But, there have been cases in the past where an individual has been charged with drug driving, and the driver has claimed that they hadn’t been smoking marijuana, but rather they’d been eating hemp seed products.

Mr Kavasilas agrees that it’s unlikely that traces of THC in hemp seed food would show up in police saliva tests. But he said that if it did happen to detect the traces, “it’s highly likely” that a supplementary laboratory test would show up positive.

An Australia 21 report on drug decriminalisation released in March this year, recommended that the roadside drug testing programs be reviewed, as “the purpose of such testing should be to ascertain whether the driver is unsafe or unfit” to drive, not to see whether they’d consumed an illicit substance.

Until a program that actually tests for driver impairment is introduced, it would be advisable that THC is removed from roadside drug testing, and then people can go about eating their highly nutritional hemp seed food products without concerns about testing positive.