NO GOING BACK ON DRUG LAWS

WA WOULD not be able to turn back the clock on its cannabis law reforms,
former police commissioner Brian Bull said yesterday.

Mr Bull, a patron of the Coalition Against Drugs, said that despite his
policing background, he could not say if the Gallop Government's changes to
cannabis laws would result in an increase in cannabis use or not. He said
the changes could not be compared with different models in other States or
countries.

"Only time will tell," Mr Bull said. "Unfortunately if they (the
Government) are wrong, we can't go back."

Under the laws, which have passed the Legislative Assembly and are expected
to be debated in the Upper House this week, recreational users caught with
two plants will be fined $200. Users with less than 30g of the drug will
be fined up to $150.

Mr Bull said the law would be difficult to unravel even with a change of
government.

Mr Bull, who retired as WA's top cop in 1994, will chair a series of public
meetings organised by the WA Liberal Party.

The first was held last night at North City Christian Centre in Padbury.

Opposition Leader Colin Barnett urged the 75 people at the meeting to lobby
the Premier, whom he labelled gutless, for not taking part in debate on the
Cannabis Prohibition Bill in the Lower House last month.

He said there was a difference between modern cannabis use and the
experimentation which some of his parliamentary colleagues were part of in
the 1970s.

But Mr Bull said he was not supporting any political campaign against the laws.

He said Health Minister Bob Kucera, a former colleague in the police
service, had been very mindful about the need to educate the public about
the changes.

He said the former government had softened cannabis laws by introducing a
cautioning system for first-time offenders.

"I am involved because I am concerned about drugs," he said.

Mr Bull, who visits schools to talk to parents about drugs, said it was
paramount parents were aware of what their children were doing, regardless
of what the laws said.

London-based social worker Julie Fawcett spoke at a meeting in Perth last
night. She said that when British police in the Brixton area relaxed their
approach to cannabis, younger children started using it, crime levels rose
and harder drugs became more common.

Ms Fawcett said cannabis was not a political nor a Christian issue, but a
family issue. She said a lot of people behind the push to decriminalisse
cannabis in Britain were single.