I have two massive problems with this. First, relaxing the laws on dangerous drugs normalises drug taking. It means more young people will experiment with a drug lifestyle that leads to mental illness, crime, unemployment and basically a wasted life. The idea anyone should take something cooked up in a backyard lab by a bikie gang is nuts and it sends a shocking message if that’s somehow sanctioned by government. Any MP trying to spin that this saves taxpayers by keeping offenders out of the legal system, has clearly never spent a Saturday night in a public hospital emergency room as the damaged individuals front after a night of so-called “party drugs”, let alone witnessed the devastation methamphetamine has brought to regional communities.
The argument that “kids will be kids” and we don’t want to saddle them with a criminal record is just wrong if we are serious about discouraging drug use and the violent gangs that profit from it. So too is the claim we’ve “lost the war on drugs” and should just legalise use. We haven’t stopped murder, yet no one is suggesting we give up and legalise it. The fact the same cabinet meeting that approved in principle this watering-down of drugs laws also considered increased penalties for graffiti shows the government’s weird double standards.My other problem is a Liberal Party forgetting what it stands for, treating its supporters with contempt and debating policies that better belong in the Greens. We don’t elect conservative governments to be a pale imitation of the left.If the NSW Premier thinks her relatively good handling of the pandemic means she can get away with brain snaps on social policy, she’s in for a shock. For me, as a conservative, going soft on illicit drugs is a deal-breaker. I could not vote Liberal — and I would not be the only one who walks away.
Watch Peta Credlin on Sky News, weeknights at 6pm
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