Dr. Garrett McGovern:

There are two separate pieces. The debate today is about decriminalisation. We are not talking about legalisation. I would be in favour of looking at the regulation of all drugs. It is not going to happen in my lifetime. It will happen at some stage, but I do not know when. I take the Senator's point.

There is a suggestion from what he is saying that in order to have one thing we have to have the other. I do not think that is the case. There were almost 16,000 convictions relating to drugs last year. Some 69% of the total number related to personal possession, as well as the distribution and sale of drugs. We have to ask, for what? It does not stop people in possession of drugs from using them. There is no evidence anywhere that having criminal sanctions stops people using drugs or reduces their prevalence. We need to separate the two issues. They are, of course, related, but in 2022 there are no grounds whatsoever to criminalise people who use drugs for their own personal enjoyment or develop problems. That is, arguably, even worse.