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With the justice system failing, the ACT government commits to decriminalising drug use
The ACT government has become the first to commit to decriminalising personal possession of illicit substances, citing that the prohibition approach has not worked, and the criminal justice system has not addressed the problem of continuous use.
Naomi Neilson
Labor MLA Michael Pettersson recently announced that he will introduce a bill to decriminalise personal possession of illicit substances to the ACT legislative assembly next year, citing that prohibition of drugs such as heroin, MDMA and methamphetamines has only put unnecessary pressure on the court system.
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Mr Pettersson introduced the private member’s bill in 2018 to legalise cannabis, which was ultimately re-drafted and passed. At the time, he said the criminal justice measures were not addressing the problem of drug use in the Canberra community.
He said that people who were caught with small amounts of the illicit drugs should not face the same prospect of a criminal conviction.
“We’ve had laws of prohibition in place for about 100 years. In that 100 years, somehow, 43 per cent of Australians have used an illicit substance,” he said.
“That tells me that the criminal justice system isn’t the deterrent we think it is.”
The decriminalisation has not been endorsed by the whole of the Labor Party, but chief minister Andrew Barr said it was an important policy debate and that he is pleased Mr Pettersson “put it on the agenda for 2021”.
“The process from there will see a legislative assembly committee conduct an examination of the policy issues and the proposed legislation.”
