Persuasive Piece
Contention: Heroin must be decriminalised

The prostitution of twelve-year-old children as heroin peddlers on the streets has sent shockwaves through the community. The devastating effects of heroin have ruined the lives of hundreds of families through the loss of loved ones. The precious lives of teenagers and adults alike are being sacrificed on the altar of those, whose dogma prevents them from accepting the need for a new approach. Heroin must be decriminalised, in order to control and curb the devastating effects its use inflicts on the community.

The importation, sale and use of heroin has been banned for 43 years, yet ironically heroin is now more freely available than ever. Outlawing heroin has not hindered its use, instead it has been conducive to other evils. Rather than depressing the “500 heroin-related deaths” occurring in Australia annually, prohibition has furnished the epidemic of HIV and hepatitis C in the community through the “use of unclean needles.” Instead of controlling heroin, prohibition has delivered the illicit drug as a franchise to organised crime. The continuing eruption of the black market has been sustained by the staggering “640 billion dollar” annual profit. It is this filthy profit that allows for the corruption, exploitation and intimidation of anybody, from the corner shopkeeper to the judiciary. It has provided the criminal element with the impetus to carry out every endeavour necessary “to expand demand and protect supply.”

The community’s current stance of outlawing heroin use, has proven to be futile. In a trivial effort to vanquish heroin from the streets, harsher penalties and Herculean policing initiatives are repeatedly advocated. But to what gain? Harsher penalties on users only succeed in grinding the problem further underground and tougher policing still fails to crush any major