DAY A FUTURE POLICE MINISTER WENT SOFT ON MARIJUANA

A pre-election storm was brewing last night over drugs policies advocated
by Police Minister Michael Costa when he was the state's union boss.

Mr Costa called for the decriminalisation of cannabis use and said drug use
should be treated as a health issue rather than a crime issue.

His views were captured in a filmed interview with a representative of the
Nimbin Hemp Embassy at the 1999 Drug Summit at Parliament House.

Since becoming Police Minister a year ago, Mr Costa has led the Carr
Government's tough anti-drugs campaign, including introducing legal powers
for the use of sniffer dogs to track down cannabis users.

In the countdown to the state election on March 22, Mr Costa has also
evaded questions about his own reported use of marijuana during his student
days.

The Opposition last night drew attention to the similarity between the
drugs approach of Mr Costa in 1999 and the Greens, who are currently
stitching up a critical preference deal with the Labor Party.

In his Nimbin Hemp Embassy interview, Mr Costa said: "Harm minimisation is
the approach rather than the punitive approach. Also treating more drug
issues as issues of health rather than issues of crime and punishment and
law is a positive step."

He said the summit's proposal to decriminalise cannabis use was "positive"
and he backed the trial of safe injecting rooms for heroin addicts.

"But we need to move away from zero tolerance, because clearly it doesn't
work," he said.

Using similar language, the Greens manifesto on drugs policy states: "The
Greens' policy is based on harm minimisation and an understanding that drug
use should not be treated as a crime but as a health and social problem."

Greens leaders have described the zero-tolerance war on drugs as "an
expensive failure".

As minister, Mr Costa has taken a hard line. When introducing sniffer dog
legislation into Parliament, Mr Costa said: "No justification is necessary
for police concentration on stopping the use of prohibited drugs where they
can, and a range of options are available to police once they have
identified that a person is carrying a prohibited drug to divert persons
into treatment."

Another time, Mr Costa said: "As a society we value our freedom of movement
as well as we value the freedom to be free of illicit drugs."

Mr Costa's long-rumoured use of marijuana at Sydney University in the 1980s
resurfaced last week when he told 2GB's Philip Clark: "But there's a
difference between having used drugs at one particular point in your life,
particularly when the main drug that's probably being used is marijuana."

Asked if he had smoked marijuana, he said: "Look, the reason I'm not
answering is because I think it's irrelevant. I don't want to be distracted
by this nonsense about, you know, teenage drug use or occasional drug use."

Liberal Party state director Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader John
Brogden yesterday renewed their call for the ALP to rule out a preference
deal with the Greens.

"Labor cannot say they are opposed to the Greens policy but at the same
time do a deal for Green preferences. They can't have it both ways," Mr
Morrison said.

Mr Costa's spokesman said yesterday that the minister stood by the views he
expressed in 1999, and added: "As Police Minister he supports the police in
their enforcement of the law and he also supports the Government's policies
in this area."