Beyond Prohibition

Report of the Redfern Legal Centre Drug Law Reform Project

September 1996

Executive Summary

The Redfern Legal Centre Drug Law Reform Project began in mid 1994. Its objectives were to promote informed public discussion about drug law reform, and to contribute to bringing forward reform of the drug laws.

The Project's main achievements over the past two years are:

Published discussion papers, fact sheets, stickers and a poster promoting a range of initiatives to end the current prohibition policy on currently illicit drugs and move towards a model of controlled availability;

Convened a series of community forums in South Sydney and Cabramatta on ways that drug laws impact on the work of community and health organisations;

Held discussions with a number of NSW Parliamentarians, including Ministers and their advisors;

Participated in several conferences and seminars, including the International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm Provided formal, detailed submissions to a range of inquiries including the Wood Royal Commission into the NSW Police Service and the Victorian Premier's Drug Advisory Council (Pennington Committee).

This report includes two of the Project's most significant publications:

Steps Towards Harm Reduction

Harm Reduction Model of Controlled Drug Availability.

In addition, this report provides summaries of comments on these publications from a diverse range of organisations and individuals. The comments show that the Project and its publications have made a significant contribution to the debate about reform of the drug laws in NSW.

Future activities for the Redfern Drug Law Reform Project are likely to include closer links to other committees and organisations working on drug law reform in NSW and other parts of Australia.