Re: Z. Seselja ‘Drugs laws must keep our kids safe’ (CW 3 March 2022 p8). I read the senator’s opinion article and highlighted the sentences containing sensationalised language. There were 13 sentences highlighted in an approximately [500] word anti-new regulation rant. The senator’s vehement words against making any changes to our existing laws sound exactly the same as all his predecessors who refuse to change our out-of-date regulations. Conservatives, who don’t like change, hark back to the “success” of past laws and refuse to consider alternatives.  

There is one question I would like to address to the senator: How have our existing laws served the community in reducing the use of any drugs in the last 3-4 decades? 

The way we think about illicit drug use has changed, because we know more about why people turn to drugs in the first place. We know how they are seduced into drug use and how the “habit” takes over. The drug addict is not a criminal, they are distressed, abused and frightened individuals, who are unable to help themselves. They become criminals during the addiction process. Their connections with family and friends are broken because their unpredictable behaviour becomes unbearable. The drug addiction takes over and becomes all powerful, such is human frailty. The addict then becomes the victim of pushers and the violent underworld that goes with the drug scene.

So how do we ‘help’ these addicts currently?  They are arrested, judged, imprisoned and often forced to go cold turkey in a lockup. If they are convicted, they are sent to jail, where more often than not their habit is reinforced and their criminal acumen augmented. 

Is there a better way to help them and guide them to being free of drug dependency? 

Yes, there is. If a person is caught with a small amount (for their own use) of a prohibited drug they should be sent to a rehabilitation facility to recover and be counselled. There is always a reason for an individual to become addicted. Be it psychological, emotional, physical or existential, if the reason can be found, a path towards recovery can also be found. There is enough data from overseas that shows that this kind of intervention works and is far more successful than imprisonment. 

If you have read the senator’s diatribe, look carefully at the melodramatic language and alarming scenarios he uses to frighten parents and community leaders into supporting his ultra conservative stance. Ask yourself, if your child was arrested on a drugs charge, would you want them to be counselled and helped to recover, or sent to jail where their life could be in jeopardy? It has been established that punishment is not the answer to transgression, especially in childhood. Do we abandon this understanding when our young people are still developing and learning about their world when they experiment with drugs? If we want to create a better society, we need to sympathise, understand and rehabilitate those who fall into bad habits. We are after all, one species, who share the same weaknesses and mental frailty.

I often hear a tragic story being told and think to myself, “There, but for the grace of God, go I”. 

Perhaps the senator needs to think about this himself for when his children are old enough and curious enough to experiment with drugs. Maybe then, he’ll start singing from a different hymn sheet.  

• CL Ford, Conder. 

Want to share your opinion?

Email [email protected] with ‘To the editor’ in the subject field; include your full name, phone number, street address (NFP) and suburb. Keep letters to 250 words maximum. Note, letters may be shortened if space restrictions dictate.