At the same time that overdose deaths have doubled in Australia, those in Switzerland have been cut in half. Prohibition a failure. Heroin was available through pharmacists until 1953, when, after pressure from the U.S., it was declared illegal. A common palliative remedy, it caused few problems because distribution was medically supervised. Nearly half a century on, the illegal drug industry is big business, estimated to be worth 8.6 billion dollars in 1997.
Prohibition defines drug-dependent people as criminals.
It's created a mushrooming prison population and increased the profits for private prisons. And for Aboriginal users, a jail sentence can turn into a death sentence, because of the drastically high rate of indigenous deaths in custody. Prohibition does not eradicate the problems. The social structures which fuel alienation and despair need changing. Simone Nichol, a feminist whose partner has had a history of drug dependency and is currently in jail, is angry about the lack of support for users and their families.