FDS Insight Magazine Aug - Oct 2022

20 treatment sector only has half the resources it needs to meet current demand. We know that for every $1 spent on drug treatment, the community saves $7, and we know that law enforcement costs seven times as much as treatment to get the same reduction in use in the community. Drug decriminalisation is not legalisation. CREDIT:AP Drug decriminalisation is not legalisation. Under decriminalisation, drug possession and use is still illegal but it attracts a fine rather than a criminal charge. Manufacturing and selling are still a criminal offence. By diverting people from the criminal justice system and applying a health response, we can provide intervention and education for people who use drugs, which is much more likely to reduce use and harms than a criminal sanction. We already have 30 years of experience of decriminalisation in Australia and it has not resulted in an increase in use. South Australia, ACT and Northern Territory have had this system in place for cannabis for nearly 30 years. In Portugal, where possession of small amounts of all drugs has been decriminalised for more than 20 years, there has been an increase in the number of people accessing treatment and a decrease in problematic use, drug deaths and the number of people in prison. It has not increased drug use. Drugs were decriminalised in Oregon in the United States in 2020 and there is currently a bill before the ACT parliament looking to do the same right here in Australia. Although it reduces one of the main harm for people who use drugs – contact with the criminal justice system – decriminalisation doesn’t address other drug dangers for people who continue to use. Under decriminalisation, criminals still control the drug market and there’s no regulation of how they are made or who they can be sold to. A fully regulated market, in the same way pharmaceutical medicines, alcohol and tobacco are tightly regulated, would reduce these harms. There are strict rules that govern who can manufacture, who can sell and to whom, what can go into the drugs and how they are labelled. But decriminalisation is a good first step that goes a long way to reducing harms. The global ‘war on drugs’ has been going for 51 years this month. It’s had its day and we know it’s not working. We need to look at other approaches. Drug decriminalisation is simply evidence-based public health policy aimed at reducing the harms of illicit drugs for both people who use and the wider community.