Should money spent on the prohibition of cannabis be spent on alcohol addicted elderly Australians instead?

The scandalous revelations around the treatment of our elderly community members demonstrate the low worth our society places on those we deem 'past it'. The abuse and neglect of our elders is a national shame.

Alcohol abuse/misuse is having a devastating impact on many of our elders but our politicians do nothing.

According to figures released in December 2005 by the National Drug Research Institute (NDRI) in Perth, alcohol killed an estimated 10,592 Australians aged 65 and over between 1994 and 2003.

That means one thousand elderly Australians die each year as a result of their alcohol use … and politicians ignore this devastating statistic.

At the same time, Governments in all jurisdictions have implemented the "War on Cannabis", spending an inordinate amount of taxpayers money combating the use of a plant that has never killed anyone.

How can so much funding (hundreds of millions of dollars) be spent tackling a benign drug like cannabis while our politicians fail to act to stem the damage being wreaked on our elderly by alcohol corporations?

The money being spent on cannabis prohibition would be much better placed improving services for elderly Australians and working towards improved well-being for this vulnerable section of the community.

Gary Meyerhoff,
Network Against Prohibition,
Darwin,
Northern Territory,
Australia

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Tue, 25 April 2006
Source: The Southeast Asian Times
Author: Gary Meyerhoff (letter to the editor)
Email: southeastasiantimes@bigpond.com
Website: http://www.southeastasiantimes.com/