That's our mythology. Supporters of a zero tolerance drug policy, like Jack Gilligan from Drugwatch International, claim Australia has got it wrong. He says Australia's losing the battle against drug use and addiction and it's time to get tough with all drug possession and consumption illegal, laws strictly enforced and drug treatment mandatory for all users. The message of the law, it does play pretty much of an important role. I mean, if you remove the fence from the apple orchard and there's no penalties for taking the apples, there's not going to be many apples on that tree by the end of the day.
Illicit drugs is primarily a health and social issue.
There is always going to be an important law enforcement component, but making law enforcement carry the burden of our response to illicit drugs is setting up law enforcement to fail. We've got 30 years of experience of failure in this area on a resounding scale. My mother committed suicide when I was five years old due to drug issues. My father also committed suicide when I was 12 years old. He took an overdose.