3 December 2003

The Honourable Mark Latham

Opposition Leader

Parliament House

Canberra ACT 2600

Re: Federal Labor Drug Policy

Dear Mark

I was surprised but glad to hear that you won the position of Labor leader rather than the old has-been Beazley. Congratulations! I see it as a fresh start for Labor, a chance to get more in touch with younger generations of Australians, who are the future of this country. The negative Howard government has dragged Australia back to the 1950s  in some respects. It’s about time we came to terms with the realities of the 21^st century instead of burying our heads in the sand and hoping the problems just go away. 

Whether we like it or not, the use of drugs such as cannabis, amphetamines, heroin and ecstasy is part of day-to-day life in Australia and shows no signs of  going away, notwithstanding decades of heavy-handed policing, and millions and millions of taxpayers’ dollars spent trying to eradicate the problem. I’ve been a human rights campaigner in Darwin for some years and recently I’ve been involved with an organisation called the Network Against Prohibition .

We try to minimise the harm to the community of the so-called War On Drugs. We advocate legalisation of ALL drugs across the board as the best way of managing the problem. In this way the issue will be brought out into the open where it can be discussed freely and solutions found.

Once the social stigma associated with drug use is removed, the problems will be addressed and we’ll be able to have a more healthy and productive society. Drug policies in the Netherlands and Switzerland show what can be achieved with rational, commonsense thinking.

The old approach of trying to ‘protect people from themselves’ has been tried and it has failed. In fact prohibition and zero tolerance policies do far more damage to society than the drugs themselves.

I urge you to look forward, to the future of Australia, rather than back to how things were in the 1950s. If you do this you will earn the support and admiration of many, many Australians who have grown weary of arrogant, conservative, unaccountable  politicians who seem to be out of touch with the day-to-day realities of life.

I urge you to give serious thought to this pressing issue.

                                                                         Yours Sincerely

                                                                         Stuart Highway

                                                                        For and on behalf of the Network Against Prohibition

                                                                                                and the silent majority!