POLICE 'READY TO SOFTEN ON CANNABIS'

Decriminalising cannabis could free police to focus on harder drugs, a new
report on Australia's illicit drug problem said yesterday.

The hard-line approach to all illegal drugs was 'not viable', the chairman
of the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence, Victorian Police
Commissioner Neil Comrie, said yesterday.

He said police across Australia were ready for a trial of a more flexible,
harm-minimisation approach.

The 176-page Australian Illicit Drug Report, by the Australian Bureau of
Criminal Intelligence, reported more than 500 overdose deaths a year, a
rise of 700 per cent in just over a decade.

It suggests that law enforcement efforts were having 'a limited effect' on
the heroin available at street level.

The report noted also a growing tolerance for cannabis use in the
community, and said decriminalisation could greatly reduce police and legal
costs.

'Any moves to decriminalise personal cannabis use and production could
result in a big reduction in the resources committed to controlling the
drug,' it said.

Cannabis was Australia's most popular illicit drug - one third of the adult
population having used it - followed by amphetamines. Cannabis accounted
for 81 per cent of all drug arrests.

Cannabis arrests in Canberra rose 10 per cent last year, compared with a 12
per cent drop in the national average.

Mr Comrie said police had to change their tactics to counter a 'vicious
cycle of death and tragedy' by leaving users alone, and working up the
ladder to the dealers and distributors.

The national economic cost of all drug abuse in Australia was more than $18
billion in 1996, and $1.6 billion was directly due to illicit drugs.

Law enforcement for drugs cost $450.6 million: $156 million for state and
territory police, the National Crime Authority, Australian Federal Police,
and the Australian Customs Service, $230.5 million for prisons and $64.1
million for courts.

The report lists rises in heroin use, falls in price and higher purity,
which had doubled in Sydney between 1992 and 1995.

Heroin overdose deaths for the 15 to 44 age group had risen in Australia by
'700 per cent' from 1979 to 1995 - most coming after 1992.

The reasons given include purer heroin, lifestyle, polydrug use, criminal
behaviour, self abuse and neglect. (Canberra equalled Sydney in the highest
grade of heroin in Australia.)

A typical overdose victim was 30 and with a 12-year history as a drug user.

Sydney was the main importation and distribution centre for heroin and
other drugs into Australia. The weight of detections at the Customs
barriers had doubled last year, yet it was widely available and prices had
never been as low.

The mean age of dealers had fallen from 30 in 1995 to 25.

The Federal Government scrapped the heroin trial in Canberra last year, but
put $87.5 million into a three-year anti-drugs police campaign.

A quarter of drivers in a Western Australian study tested positive to drugs
other than alcohol, cannabis coming second after alcohol.

Police success in cracking down on domestic production of amphetamines now
meant some users were switching to cheaper and higher quality heroin.

Cocaine could also become a substitute for amphetamines, known as speed, if
its availability increased.

Most amphetamines were produced in Australia and they appeared to be just
as available as they were five years ago. But the quality had declined
because of the success of precursor legislation, which imposed tighter
controls over sale and distribution of the chemicals used in amphetamine
manufacture.

Mr Comrie said police would continue to take whatever action was needed to
combat the illicit drug trade in Australia. 'Just because we are successful
in one area and there is a move across to another doesn't mean we should
give up in the successful area,' he said.

He said the effects of amphetamine abuse were extensive, causing a great
deal of pain to the community. That law enforcement has been particularly
effective in dealing with that issue ought to be recognised rather than
criticised.

The Minister for Justice, Amanda Vanstone, said the illicit drugs trade was
an industry with profits rivalled by few industries. She said drugs were
not new, but the challenge was serious and criminals had access to the
latest technology. Police must ensure Australia did not become a dumping
ground for the growing supplies of drugs.