STRAIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE ON DRUG USE AND ABUSE

Efforts to combat drug abuse require a balance between personal liberty and
social responsibility

People have been taking drugs for no good medical reason since the dawn of
history. For just as long, other people have raged against that.

The official attitude to drugs can seem mysterious at first glance. For
example, numerous drugs are illegal while tobacco, a known killer, is
distributed legally. Television advertising of alcohol is okay but tobacco
is not. Leaving a 13-year-old alone at home is an offence but poisoning
infants by smoking in confined spaces is not.

The full range of social thought is illustrated in the drug debate. At one
end of the spectrum libertarians say depriving people of the freedom to use
drugs such as heroin and cocaine has done more harm than good. They say
jails have been filled, police corrupted, civil liberties lost and Third
World peasants propelled into opium and cocaine production, all to stop
people doing something they should be free to do.

They also say illegality creates high prices and addicted people become
criminals to pay inflated prices. They cite the spawning of organised crime
as the legacy of alcohol prohibition in the United States. In the purest
form they say the state has no role in protecting people from themselves.

At the other end of the spectrum there are prohibitionists, who say that
addictive drugs entrap human personalities so that arguments about human
liberty are spurious. Prohibitionists say there are some human activities
that are so socially destructive that even when the perpetrator is the
victim they cannot be permitted.

They say that to suggest an addict is making a free choice is to deny that
the person has lost personal sovereignty and has become a slave to a
substance that someone is selling for profit. Prohibitionists say that at
times the strong must protect the weak, even when the weak do not wish to
be protected.

The New Zealand Drug Foundation favours a middle path. If all drugs were
legal, human greed would see new products developed with the intent of
maximising addiction through the population.

On the other hand, a prohibitionist war on drugs is a hard one to win.
Prohibition of alcohol in the 1930s is proof enough. Even in New Zealand
prisons 35 per cent of inmates test positive for drug use.

The foundation believes that society has a responsibility to express its
values through the law and through public health policies. For example, we
are disappointed with the recent decision of the Advertising Standards
Authority to allow continued advertising of alcohol on television.

We support a health curriculum in schools that helps young people faced
with choices about drugs. We support pragmatic policies that reduce harm:
for example, needle exchanges to avoid HIV/AIDS infection and activities
for young people that divert them from drug use.

Many foundation members believe that the current law is not working, and
for that reason the foundation encourages debate about options. We have
reservations about legalisation, however, because it may lead to the
promotion of cannabis by companies as astute and vigorous as those that
promote alcohol and tobacco products today.

Meanwhile, individuals need help. Three hundred new assessments for alcohol
and drug treatment are made monthly in the Auckland region alone. These
people may represent just the tip of the iceberg.

Schools advise that 12-year-old children are using cannabis. Early drug use
is associated with a range of other problems, including higher rates of
substance abuse later in life, juvenile offending, mental health problems,
school dropout and unemployment.

Survey evidence shows that young New Zealanders between 14 and 19 are
drinking more alcohol in 1996 than they did in 1990. Young people are
drinking to get drunk more often and experiencing more problems resulting
from their own drinking. Use of tobacco by young women has risen slightly
during the 1990s, from a low of 30 per cent in 1993 to 35 per cent in 1997.

Clearly the public is concerned. The Government's national drug policy
announced yesterday by Social Welfare Minister Roger Sowry, acknowledges
that treatment services for young people and those on probation are
difficult to access.

It is time for facts, honest talk and continuing commitment to reduce harm.

Sally Jackman is executive director of the New Zealand Drug Foundation.

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)