STATISTICS PUT WA AT TOP OF TABLE FOR CANNABIS USE

LIBERAL leader Colin Barnett wants the State Government to abandon its
plans to soften cannabis laws after confirmation that WA has the highest
use of the illicit drug in Australia.

Mr Barnett said national figures from the Australian Institute of Health
and Welfare revealed that 17.5 per cent of West Australians aged 14 and
over used the drug, compared with the national average of 12.9 per cent.

The institute also found the use of other drugs, including ecstasy and
amphetamines, was also more prevalent in WA that most other States and
Territories.

WA also recorded high ratres of alcohol abuse.

Mr Barnett said these latest figures should be a wake-up call for Premier
Geoff Gallop to abandon his approach of tolerance to cannabis cultivation
and use.

Under proposed changes to the law, recreational users caught with less than
30g of the drug will be fined up to $150. Users growing two plants will be
fined $200.

The Liberal party is opposed to any system that allowed such a drug to be
normalised.

Mr Barnett said the Government was ignoring the clear links between
cannabis use and crime and mental health problems.

He said the drug use monitoring in Australia report found that in 2000, of
all men taken to the East Perth lockup, 63.5 per cent had cannabis in ther
system, 68 per cent had been arrested for a property crime and 58.1 per
cent for a violent offence.

There was a view in the community that Perth was becoming a more violent
city, even by world standards, and people were feeling increasingly unsafe
in their homes and on the street, he said.

Mr Barnett said last year's drug summit had vindicated the Gallop
Government's policy that it had at the time it was elected.

"The Gallop Government's drug laws send the message that a little bit of
cannabis is OK. It's not OK," he said.

"Under Dr Gallop's proposal, WA will have the softest cannabis laws in
Australia and some of the softest in the world.

"Why would you do that when you've already got 50 per cent more cannabis
use compared with other States and such a clear, strong relationshp between
drug use and crimes."

In another move yesterday, the Coalition Against Drugs (WA) called for more
detoxification and rehabilitation programs - not softer drug laws.

It also wants more drug courts.