No, it is not the cold weather, just what one would expect from global WARMING, eh! … but the proposal to legalise a whole heap of hard drugs. No, decriminalise is the word, but in the long term it will achieve the same result. It is important to have as many fronts of social decay covered as possible:
“A bill to decriminalise small amounts of hard drugs will be introduced in the Australian Capital Territory next year.
Labor MLA Michael Pettersson unveiled a draft private member's bill on Monday and said he will bring the bill to the ACT Legislative Assembly in 2021.
Mr Pettersson wants people caught with a small amount of heroin, cocaine, MDMA, crystal meth or similar drugs to face a fine instead of a criminal conviction.
'Drug use is a public health problem. It's time to treat it like one. We know that the "just say no" approach doesn't work,' he wrote on Facebook.
Mr Pettersson said decriminalising drug possession was 'a sensible step forward'.
'When you talk to families experiencing crisis, everyone can see that our current drug laws don't do what we want them to do,' he explained.
'It doesn't deter people from using drugs, nor does it do anything to tackle the often serious and complex reasons behind why a person consumes drugs in the first place.'
Mr Pettersson's bill would make Canberra the first place in Australia to decriminalise illicit drugs.
His proposal would see a 2g limit implemented on methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and magic mushrooms.
MDMA would be subject to a 0.5 gram limit and hallucinogens like LSD would see an even smaller limit.
Mr Pettersson also introduced a private member's bill to legalise cannabis in 2018 and penalties were removed for personal use in the ACT in January.
'Changing the law is never easy, or fast, but it starts with a bill. I've got one ready to go and I'll introduce it when the ACT Legislative Assembly next sits,' he said.
It is like arguing that electoral fraud is difficult to control, and has been going on for a long time, so we might as well accept it.