WA Drug Laws Punish Families | Cocaine Easier to Buy Than RATs | NY Punishes Prisons for False Positive Drug Tests
All the drug policy and related news from the past week in one place.
Hello!
Happy Friday and welcome to issue #69 of Drugs Wrap, a weekly compilation of the top stories in drug policy from across Australia and around the world.
Second Wrap of the year and it already feels like we’re back to old habits. More reporting across the country on the need for, and the consequences of avoiding, decriminalisation. While all states and territories could benefit from drug law reform, the spotlight this week falls on WA and the ACT.
Western Australia’s asset seizure laws for those convicted of drug dealing have seen a sharp rise in police collecting and selling the belongings of drug dealers, despite much of this property not being bought with the proceeds of crime.
The ACT has pushed back its proposed decriminalisation legislation until the government can come up with a plan for treating those with mental health and an experience of substance use. This could take a very, very ling time to complete and continues to allow ACT citizens to suffer under the current regime.
Elsewhere, the drug policy debate continues to rage in the UK (although it has been quietened by the possibly impending resignation of PM Boris Johnson over a number of parties held at No 10 during lockdown) and new figures reveal drug overdose deaths have reached record heights. The EU is looking to bolster its multilateral arrangements for drug enforcement while, in the US, 1,600 prisoners appear to have been punished for falsely testing positive on drug screenings.
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Let’s get to it.
Archaic Laws Punish WA Families While Losing War on Drugs
Western Australia is jailing more people for small quantities of drugs and giving them harsher penalties than any other state.
Outdated laws allow police to seize properties and possessions from their families, whether or not these are proceeds of crime, and the state sell them for amounts that barely touch the billions of taxpayer dollars used to keep the “traffickers” in jail.
And the government has not acted on recommendations from some of the state’s most respected legal minds to overhaul the laws, and prevent them from penalising unintended victims.
A convicted drug trafficker is powerless to stop the fire sale of their frozen assets, ranging from property in their name down to family trinkets thought to hold any value.
These people are very rarely major players in organised crime, yet they make up a huge portion of WA’s prison population – the fastest rising in the nation after the Northern Territory.
It is for these reasons prominent Perth lawyer Tom Percy has renewed calls for the McGowan government to overhaul ‘disgraceful Draconian laws’ which he says unfairly seize people’s hard-earned homes and do nothing to deter drug importation into the state.
Concerns Over Addictive Drug Prescriptions
Australian doctors are prescribing addictive anxiety and insomnia drugs for significantly longer periods than recommended, a university study has found.
The study conducted by the University of Adelaide looked at the medical records of more than 1.4 million patients who visited GPs between 2011 and 2018.
The researchers found that new users of benzodiazepines and Z-drugs were on the medications for 11 months on average, much longer than the recommended four weeks.
Drug Decriminalisation Can't Be Delayed Any Longer
On December 2, a motion in the ACT Legislative Assembly made consideration of the passage of a bill to decriminalise possessing small quantities of illicit drugs dependent on the government coming up with a plan for effective treatment of co-occurring mental health and substance dependency problems.
This was probably not the first time that the Assembly has resolved on a course that will undermine and delay the outcome that it seeks.
It is likely that delaying consideration of decriminalisation until after "the Minister for Mental Health has reported back to this Assembly" will cost lives.
$300 Gram Of Class A Narcotics Trafficked Across Three Continents Somehow Easier To Procure Than Australian Made RAT Test
Okay so this is obviously a satirical headline, but Betoota, as always, have perfectly highlighted the absolute absurdity of living in Australia right now.
The failure to supply RATs, despite the fact that they are made here, is ‘in stark contrast to the nation’s drug dealers, who have no trouble trafficking narcotics across multiple continents to supply tradies and financial workers alike with half-cut booger sugar.’
‘It’s a weird world we live in isn’t it?’ says Bryce, shaking his head, ‘it’s not easy to chase a bag, even harder when the borders were shut’.
‘Still, it only takes me a few phone calls and a bit of running around’.
Mumbling something about the price being inflated to $350 for what was essentially talcum powder, Bryce says that finding illegal substances was far easier than getting a RAT test.
‘I’ve tried everywhere and I can’t find a test to save my life’, says Bryce, ‘even asked some of my shady mates and they can’t source any either’.
‘At this point, a bag’s probably cheaper too’.
This Week in Weed
Five Cannabis Industry Trends to Look Out For in 2022
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Two Studies Find Cannabinoids Could Help End the Pandemic
Effects of Cannabis the Same for Both Sexes, Lambert Study Finds
CBD Shows Early Promise in Reducing Size of Brain Tumours, US Researchers Find
A Q&A With the Scientist Who Discovered Cannabis Can Prevent COVID-19
GOP Texas Governor Says People Shouldn’t Be Jailed Over Cannabis Possession, But Misstates Current Law
‘Only a Matter of Time’ Until WA Legalises Cannabis, Says MP Sophia Moermond
Three Out of Four Australian Women with Endometriosis are Illicitly Using Cannabis to Ease the Pain
Around the World
EU Commission Proposes Stronger Mandate for EU Drugs Agency as Illicit Market Proliferates
The EU looks to be set to crack down (once again) in drugs with a proposed amendment to the mandate of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction that would see the formation of a European Union Drugs Agency.
They seek to ‘identify and address’ current and future challenges related to illicit drugs in the EU and will issue alerts when dangerous substances are sold as illicit drugs, monitor drug use across the region, and develop ‘EU-level’ prevention campaigns.
It’s primarily a drawing together of national drug monitoring and enforcement, allowing for a deeper multilateral approach to criminalisation and prevention.
‘Now more than ever we need clear, up-to-date and reliable evidence and analysis capabilities on illicit drugs in the EU’, said Vice-President for Promoting Our European Way of Life, Margaritis Schinas.
‘This is why we are proposing today a stronger mandate for the EU Drugs Agency. We will continue fighting against illicit drug trafficking and addressing the impact of illicit drugs on public health and security of Europeans’.
New York Prisons Punished 1,600 People for False Drug Test Results
On January 5, New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang released a report that showed more than 1,600 incarcerated people were penalized after receiving false positives from faulty drug tests.
‘Although the mounting public health crisis of substance misuse sadly exists behind bars’, Lang said at a press conference, ‘it by no means justifies the ultimately arbitrary penalties imposed on already vulnerable community members in our state facilities’.
In September 2019, the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision alerted the New York State inspector general that tests obtained from the Microgenics Corporation, installed in January of that year, seemed to be giving false positive results when testing for the partial opioid agonist buprenorphine and synthetic cannabinoids.
For eight months, from January to August 2019, people with positive drug test results were subjected to delays in parole eligibility, lost privileges like telephone use, or solitary confinement.
Lang’s report—which reviewed tens of thousands of documents and included 40-plus interviews with DOCCS staff, incarcerated people, Microgenics representatives and toxicologists—found not only that the drug tests often did not work but that, as countless prisoners voiced their concerns, department officials failed to address the problem.
Also in New York, the city plans to install 10 public health vending machines with anti-overdose drugs. As well as Naloxone, the machines will also carry sterile syringes, toiletries, and safe-sex kits. They will be free of charge to use and will be placed in low-income areas across the five boroughs.
The UK Tinkers Around the Edges of Drug Policy but it Still Needs National Reform
Senior Lecturer in addiction and mental health, Ian Hamilton, writing in The British Medical Journal, argues the proposed changes to drug policy in London need to go much, much further.
‘While it is encouraging to see investment in specialist drug treatment, this does not tackle why some people develop problems with drugs in the first place’.
‘Punishing those dependent on drugs is not only futile, but also immoral. It perpetuates stigma, a factor that will put many people off seeking the very treatment the government has pledged to improve’.
Hamilton’s comment and the British debate over drug policy come at a time when drug overdose deaths reach record highs in the country. Official figures from the UK’s Office of National Statistics have revealed that there were 4,561 deaths related to drug poisoning in the UK in 2020 - a 3.8% increase on the previous year.
Norway's Police Are In Hot Water After Posting an Image of a Suspect Having a Drugs Test on Snapchat
Norwegian traffic police are under investigation by the country's law enforcement watchdog after a photo of a man undergoing a medical procedure while under arrest was posted to the southern Norway local department's official Snapchat.
The photo posted on January 6 showed the man taking a blood test in hospital under police supervision, after being stopped on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.
While his face was not visible in the photo, critics said the Snapchat post included potentially identifying information, including the small town in southern Norway where the arrest took place which is home to just 14,000 people.
The Women Filling Jails in Argentina for Drug Offences
The Guardian have put together a great photo essay on the effect Argentina’s aggressive drug policies are having on those who turn to dealing drugs out of desperation.
In Argentina, 43% of female prisoners are serving time for drug possession, according to the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights. It is, by far, the leading cause of imprisonment for women in Argentina. As a comparison, the second leading cause of incarceration – theft – represents only 9% of convictions.
Escaping the drugs trap is hard for women in poor neighbourhoods. For many, drugs have been a permanent presence in their lives since their early years.
It’s definitely worth a look to see the realities of criminalisation in the country.
The Psychedelic Selection
Psychedelics and MDMA Have Been Approved For Medical Use In Canada
New Bill Introduced In Washington State Would Legalize Psilocybin, Magic Mushrooms
California Senator Says Bill To Legalize Psychedelics Possession Has ’50/50′ Chance To Pass This Year
Peter Thiel-Backed Psychedelics Company Gets FDA Approval To Study Ketamine Therapy
Ketamine and Psychological Therapy Helped Severe Alcoholics Abstain for Longer in Trial
ECT More Effective Than Ketamine in Severe Depression
Global Coalition Launches Push To Reschedule Psilocybin Under International Rules
Could a VR ‘Trip’ Offer a Sober Shortcut to the Healing Potential of Psychedelics?
Watch: Psychedelics vs Near Death Experiences |Aish
I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which I live and work, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and pay my respects to elders past and present. Sovereignty was never ceded.
Thanks for reading, have a great weekend, and I look forward to sharing all the latest with you next Friday.
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Thanks Jack. Great summary.
I’m not sure the UK is really doing much in the way of tinkering other than the limited scheme in London. UK drug policy Twitter was ablaze yesterday as the Labour leader of the opposition, scotched any suggestion of a change in drug laws and that he was against legalisation. There was much righteous fury. He has a background as Director of Public Prosecutions and it would be politically bonkers given the shoeing the PM is getting (Johnson might not last the week at this rate). Not the right time but it was certainly painful for decriminalisation advocates on the left to hear.
https://twitter.com/LBC/status/1483006601850236932