LAW 'PUSHES YOUNG TO HEROIN DEALERS'

Government rejects calls to relax drug law and says policies are working

MARIJUANA was a gateway to heroin for young people because it was illegal,
a leading drug law reformer said in Perth yesterday.

David Penington, former head of the Victorian Government's drug advisory
committee, told the launch of the WA branch of the Australian Drug Law
Reform Foundation that marijuana exposed young people to heroin because of
its illicit trade.

"The reality is that the gateway from marijuana to other drugs is the
source of the marijuana," Professor Penington said.

"When marijuana is illicit, when its distribution is via an illicit trade,
then the young who buy that marijuana also are offered heroin."

Professor Penington was the key speaker at the launch of the WA branch of
the foundation, which lists among its objectives the abolition of criminal
laws regarding the use of drugs of dependence such as heroin, the
introduction of drug policies based on harm minimisation, and expansiona of
drug rehabilitation programs in range and number.

Despite global efforts to prevent drug trafficking and use, production of
drugs such as heroin and cocaine was at an all-time high, he said.

"The reality is that those arrangements are not containing the problem, the
problem is getting progressively worse," he said.

Rhonda Parker, the Minister in charge of WA's Drug Abuse Strategy, rejected
calls to liberalise drug laws, saying the Government's two-point drug
policy dealt effectively with the problem.

The Government was committed to opposing drug supply and use and to
providing compassionate help and education for drug users.

"I dispute the claim that our policies are not working," Mrs Parker said.
"We are the only State seeing a downturn in heroin deaths."

She said there would soon be drug education classes in every WA school.

Professor Penington said marijuana should be treated separately from
so-called harder drugs such as heroin and amphetamines, and called for the
separation of the marijuana trade from the heroin trade.

Opening the forum, State Opposition MP Alannah MacTiernan said the
establishment of the group in WA was vital to provide the appropriate
action for drug policies and to foster community debate.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski