Libs, Labor ... what's the difference?

...and so we are going to get more of the same!.

A friend wrote to Nicola Roxon, the Labor shadow minister for health and asked if they were going to follow the Liberal Party's lead of a "War on Drugs" type policy. I should of known the answer but for some reason I had a slither of hope. Politicians are animals of self interest and most of them deserve to be jailed for crimes to humanity. The pain and death they cause us is criminal and I truly, truly despise these worthless flesh carcasses. I wonder if they got sick ... real sick, real slowly and suffered what many millions suffer worldwide, if then they might understand the pain and hurt they inflict on so many people with the policies they create and support.

Anyway the questions asked via an email:

• What is the ALP policy on health & drug reform? I did not find any clear indication from the ALP website.
• Is a new Labor Party government going to follow Howard’s outdated U.S. Lead ‘War on Drugs’ approach or is the Labor Party going to use health & science as their basis for treating drug addicts?
• Is your party supporting ‘harm minimisation’ or supporting Bronwyn Bishop’s latest report findings. After Bronwyn Bishop’s report, I read so many negative opinions and nearly every health professional who commented on it, was scathing of the contempt The Prime Minister and Bronwyn Bishop had for harm minimisation.
• Is Labor going to follow the European lead and use science, heath and experts to determine this serious issue of drug addiction and not use fear or morals to enforce a law & order policy. It has not worked for 30 years now and in fact only drives up crime, repression and misery.

Dear XXX

Labor strongly condemns illicit drug use and supports a “tough on drugs” approach as a means of protecting Australians from the terrible consequences of drug use and abuse. This is evidenced by a series of recent Labor policy announcements.

Labor has committed to a National Strategy to crack down on methamphetamines or “ice.” This included:

a ban on importing ice pipes and other drug paraphernalia; and

either further restrictions or a complete ban on sale of pseudoephedrine - a key ingredient of methamphetamine - to minors;

work to restrict or ban the sale of pseudoephedrine over the internet; and

the extension of the special reference to the Australian Crime Commission to conduct a national investigation into the criminals engaged in the manufacture, sale and use of methamphetamine.

Labor has also committed to boost Australian Federal Police numbers by 500 including tackling the importation of illicit drugs.

Labor supports the aim of helping those who use illicit drugs become drug free. It must be recognised that illicit drug use and drug addiction in particular can be complex. Despite the best efforts of families, Governments, health professionals and community groups such as churches, a small number of people still engage in drug taking behaviour. This is a tragedy that families across the social spectrum face.

How best to deal with those who are resistant to intervention is not an easy task but society should not give up on trying to engage them in treatments that will see them become drug free and minimise the harm they do to themselves and their families. Labor believes that health professionals need to be able to use a range of prevention and intervention approaches and that these must be seen as part of a continuum that has freedom from drugs as an end goal.

Thank you for writing to Federal Labor about this important issue.

Yours sincerely

Nicola Roxon MP

Shadow Minister for Heatlh 

Interestingly, something I have thought about for a while now was echoed by everyone's favourite 'legitimate' righty, Tim Blair who wrote the usual pro Howard rant in the Daily Telegraph titled Sweet Taste of Defeat". 

"The fun might even begin tonight, if you're a conservative cornered by some lefty commie atheist in a dire Don's Party-type scenario. Ask him to reflect on the fact that the Left's new hero is a millionaire Jesus-boy whose policies place him further to the Right than any previous Labor leader and possibly further to the Right than John Howard was in 1996."

Very true.