Politicians condemn drug report

Press, 5 July 1978, Page 8

Politicians condemn drug report

NZPA Sydney i A suggestion by the South ; Australian Royal Commission on drugs that the use] of marijuana be legalised in, certain situations was met with a storm of reaction around Australia. Virtually every authornative comment condemned the commission's 132-pagei discussion paper, which con-| eluded that the present total, prohibition on cannabis be' modified to allow cultivation; <>f the drug either by indi-! vidual users or a govern-1 ment agency. The strongest condemnation of the report, came from the Labour Pre- , mier of New South Wales (Mr Neville Wran) and his ultra-conservative Queens- < land counterpart, Mr Joh , Bielke-Petersen. Mr Wran .said that his.

Government "won’t have a bar of it.” Mr Bjelke-Petersen said j that people had enough; trouble trying to cope with; the misuse of alcohol. The liberal South Austra-, lian Premier (Mr Don Dunstan) said in Sydney that governments had to accept the fart that the moderate use of cannabis did not cause harmful effects. Mr Dunstan said that his Government knew the present system of controlling cannabis — total prohibition — did not solve the problem of drug abuse. “That is why the Royal] Commission was set up ” he i said. When asked whether] South Australia would bei the first state to legalise; cannabis, Mr Dunstan said ] that his Government would listen to public .discussion of j

,the commission's final report and then make a decision. There has been no com!ment so far from Canberra. The South Australian Royal Commission into the non-medical use of drugs suggested in ; ts discussion paper that people could be allowed to grow and possess cannabis for personal use, but be forbidden to sell it. Among four other suggestions offered by the commission was that, alternatively, the cultivation of cannabis be supervised by a cannabis control board, with sales through licensed outlets. The commission’s chair-; man (Professor Ronald Sackville), said that black market ' dealing in marijuana could be controlled only by mak-i ing the drug readily avail- 1 able and legal. The commission suggested' a government ta» on can-i

nabis sales, since it can be grown, processed, and marketed for only SAust2 to sAust3 an ounce (30g), onetenth of the present street price. The South Australian Police Association disputed

the commission’s view that legalisation would ease the burden on the police. The association’s secretary (Mr Ralph Tremethick) said that the police would face the added problem of drivers affected by marijuana. The Christian anti-drug, | anti-pornography group, the Festival of Light in South Australia, described the discussion paper as grossly irresponsible. and claimed that the commission had not given sufficient weight to evidence that heavy use of the drug caused atrophy of the brain. Only one leading politician welcomed thereport. Robin M ; '” , ouse, the leader of the Centrist Australian Democrats in South Australia, said that it was useless to prohibit something that had such widespread use.