Posted by: BathroomCoffee October 12, 2004
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Young Australians 'Utterly Ignore' Drug Prohibitionists
A multi-million dollar anti-drug advertising campaign run by Australian
authorities dubbed Tough on Drugs is failing because few young people
trust the government, leading drug expert Dr Cameron Duff said this
week.
"We face the problem of being utterly ignored by giving a preventative
message," Dr Duff, a director of the Australian Drug Foundation, told
the Herald Sun Government.
"We're trying to compete against these pro-drug websites and the
problem is a lot of that material is factually based. They (young people)
don't trust the Government any more because there's a view the Government
has exaggerated the risks," he admitted.
Dr Duff's comments came days before Australia's general election, which
only the Green Party is fighting on an anti-prohibition harm reduction
platform (ironically attracting a 'substantial amount of sensational
and simplistic; some of it downright untrue press', they point out on
their website).
"We propose that the personal use of drugs should not be a crime," The
Greens declare.
"This is based on the belief that punishing individual drug users
actually does more harm than good. People use illegal drugs for complex
reasons, and the widespread use of illegal drugs indicates that the
criminal law is not acting as a deterrent'," they point out.