Professor Paul Wilson, an Australian criminologist revealed that illegal drug use in Australia costs the nation $3.8 billion every year. Australian Sex Party however claims personal drug use should be decriminalized and drug abusers sent for rehabilitation instead of imprisonment.
Fiona Patten, party president and Victorian Senate candidate at the launch of the party's revolutionary drug law policy in Sydney promised decriminalization of personal drug use if the party won a seat in federal parliament. This new policy is going to support decriminalization but not legalization of possession and consumption of drugs for personal use, up to a total of 14 days' supply per person. The policy also calls for legalization of use of cannabis for specific medical usage and heroin prescription for registered users. Ms Patten however assured that drug trafficking, dealing and supplying of drugs to a minor would remain a criminal offence. She said that this policy was implemented nearly a decade ago in Portugal and drug use in Portugal has in fact declined and people seeking health assistance for their drug abuse and addiction has tripled. Ms Patten said, “The Australian Sex Party is first and foremost a civil liberties party, but it's also about getting government intervention out of people's lives, allowing adults to make those decisions for themselves.”
However Mr. Wilson who welcomed the policy said it didn't go far enough. He called for a paradigm shift in management of drug abuse. He feels it is time to give the Portuguese model a chance.
In another news the Australian Sex Party has called for an overhaul to the Broadcasting Services Act to allow the adult industry to offer paid R18+ live video chats to customers using the video conferencing capabilities of the iPhone 4 and similar mobile devices. Ms Patten says adult industry in the US was already working to develop ways to monetize the iPhone 4’s FaceTime feature.