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<http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/> The Daily Telegraph - Home

Labor's drug surrender

Exclusive by Kelvin Bissett

March 06, 2007 12:00

A CONTROVERSIAL teen drug caution scheme introduced by the Carr Government
is a shambles with the number of cautions issued for possession plummeting
to almost zero.

A Daily Telegraph investigation into the state's caution scheme for youths
aged up to 17 indicates police are increasingly turning a blind eye to cases
of even hard drug use.

Figures released by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research show not
one caution was issued to a young person for possession or use of heroin in
2006 - and there was just one caution for cocaine.

For possession or use of ecstasy there were just 17 cautions last year
despite expert assessments that Australia has the highest rate of use
anywhere in the world.

Despite an ice epidemic on our streets, police issued a meagre 15 cautions
to young people over amphetamines.

The most cautions issued to under 17 year olds were for cannabis use, 559.
But this was barely half the 1008 issued in 2001.

The cautioning scheme was introduced into the Young Offenders Act by the
State Government in April 2000 with assurances that it was not a softening
of drug use.

Anti-drugs campaigner Carly Crutchfield, 25, said last night she was not
surprised to learn police are issuing few cautions - despite how widespread
drug use has become.

"Young people do not try to hide it and they don't think it is wrong," she
said.

A caution applies for a first offence when in possession of less than 1g of
heroin, cocaine or amphetamine, 30g of cannabis leaf, 0.25 of ecstasy and
0.0008g of LSD.

For most types of drugs, the number of cautions has fallen sharply between
2001 and 2006.

The Cannabis Cautioning Scheme for adults, introduced at the same time, is
also in retreat from lack of police action, figures show.

In 2000, 3715 cautions were issued. In 2006 the number had falled to 2781.

Major Brian Watters, a spokesman for Drug Free Australia, said last night
that police were caught in a difficult position by policy makers.

"Police I have spoken to are increasingly saying: what's the point? Why
bother with the paperwork," Mr Watters said.

Mr Watters, who slammed the caution scheme in 2000 as a slap on the wrist
measure, said the soft approach sent the wrong message to young people.

"It's sad because intervention by the police in a young person's life can
really change lives," he said. "It can stop them going down a very sad
path."

Long-time drug campaigner Tony Wood said last night he was distressed to see
17 cautions in a single year issued for ecstasy, the drug that killed his
15-year-old daughter Anna in 1995.

A powerful batch of amphetamine, probably presented as ecstasy, is also
thought to have killed 20-year-old Annabel Catt last month at the Good
Vibrations festival recently.

Mr Wood said: "I bet if I went out with a video camera at one night club
venue on a Saturday night I'd catch more than 17 deals on tape."

In response to the figures, the NSW Police Force issued a statement linking
the drop in cautions for cannabis to recent research "which shows this type
of illicit drug is declining in use".

Rather than abandoning the war on drugs, police have introduced new
crime-fighting strategies over the past six years which tackle drug use,
possession and supply.

The measures include drug detection dogs and high-visibility policing
operations to arrest people regardless of their age.

Police operations targeting drugs were not focused on people's age but "on
the prevalence of the use and supply of illicit substances".

Opposition Leader Peter Debnam said families had had enough of "Labor's
softly-softly approach" when it comes to drugs, especially when it involves
teenagers.

"We need to intervene early, enforce the laws and give our police the
resources and powers to do the job," he said.

Bureau of Crime and Research Director Don Weatherburn said it was
"impossible" to know for sure why the number of cautions was falling.

Crutchfield <http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,5408049,00.jpg>

Anti-drug campaigner Carly Crutchfield, who was turned away from the Good
Vibrations festival. / The Daily Telegraph

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