A Return To Opium Dens?
November 17, 2008

RADIO 2CBA FOCAL POINT COMMENTARY BROADCAST ON FRIDAY 25th FEBURARY, 2000 ON RADIO 2CBA FM.

Is Australia going to return to the era of the opium dens? A United Nations report issued yesterday has warned that Australia could be heading back to a situation similar to the opium dens of the 19th century.

The International Narcotics Control Board is the UN agency dealing with drugs. The UN took over the task of stopping the use of drugs from the League of Nations. The League of Nations, which operated in the 1920s and 1930s, itself took on the task of opposing drugs as part of the international backlash against drugs.

A sense of history is important. In the 19th century, the supply of drugs was done according to the market. If people had the money, then they could buy the drugs. Part of this system was the creation of opium dens, where customers could relax and smoke opium.

The easy availability of drugs meant that they were very bad social problems. These led to a backlash a century ago, where people pressured their governments to stop the supply of drugs by making such an activity a criminal offence. The League of Nations later co-ordinated this work at the international level.

Now there is an attempt in some countries to take us back to the 19th century. The International Narcotics Control Board has warned about the so-called safe-injecting room trials in western Europe and Australia.

The trial planned for Sydney has many problems. For example, the creation of such a room dilutes the message of opposition to drugs because it suggests that the drugs are not really so bad – especially if a church is involved in its operation. The church gives this room a measure of respectability.

If a person is found in the streets to be carrying drugs can they claim that they were simply on their way to the drug-injecting room and so should not be arrested? How large should be the arrest-free zone? In other words, if the room is off-limits to the police, how much else of the surrounding neighbourhood should also be off-limits to the police?

The 20th century system of narcotic drugs a criminal offence has not been a complete success. But do we really want to go back to the 19th century system of opium dens? The heroin trial in Sydney is the beginning of that slippery slope.

We should listen to the UN’s advice and oppose the creation of so-called heroin trial. We should continue the 20th century policy of opposing drugs and not go back to the opium dens of the 19th century.