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How
to help
One of the best ways you can help to change
public opinion is by writing letters to the editor of your daily or
local newspapers or any magazines you subscribe to. The letters page
is one of the most widely read sections of most publications. To
increase the probability that your letter will be published, you
should follow some simple rules:
1. Make your letters
topical
Write on something which is in the news, or in response
to a recent comment, opinion or letter in the newspaper. Letters
which discuss general policy without addressing topical issues of
the day are given low priority. Write to draw attention to further
evidence that prohibition is not working.
2. Keep your letters
short and to the point
The punchier your letter is, the better. Ideal letters
are less than 250 words. The shorter your letter is, the more likely
it will catch a reader's eye. If you are responding to a complex
argument or a detailed article, your letter may necessarily be
longer, in order to address the issues that have been raised.
However, letters that ramble or explore tangential issues are less
likely to be printed. Try to express your message in short, clear
points.
3. If possible, write
from personal experience
If you can include a personal story which will catch the
attention of readers (and the letters editor), do so. Real stories
have an emotional impact which can be particularly powerful in
changing public opinion.
4. Address issues
rather than individuals
It is better to discuss issues rather than to attack
personalities. If you are responding to somebody else's letter or
opinion, identify it before going on to refute the arguments which
have been made.
5. Include your name
and full address
If you want your name withheld (not published), you
should include your name with your letter and make it clear that you
do not want your name to be published. Newspapers never publish
letters which are unsigned.
Two points to
hammer
Changing public opinion will require a
sustained campaign to correct much of the misinformation which
persists on drug issues. While addressing topical issues, there are
several points that you may wish to raise while presenting an
anti-prohibitionist perspective:
1. Prohibition has failed
This is the central message in the campaign
for better drug laws. It is a point that has to be hammered again
and again. People are afraid that any change from the current
prohibitionist drug policy will spell disaster, so we need to
constantly remind ourselves and others how bad the current approach
is.
Prohibition has failed because
- Despite the massive resources devoted to
law enforcement, drugs are still readily available in our
community.
- People continue to die from illegal drug
overdose because drugs available on the black market are of
unknown purity.
- Because there is so much money to be made
out of drugs on the black market, police corruption is
inevitable.
- Drug dependent people often steal to pay
for the drugs they are physically dependent on, contributing to
high levels of property crime and increased home and car
insurance premiums.
- Prohibition creates conditions which make
it extremely profitable for criminals to traffick in drugs.
- The more dangerous it becomes to traffick
in drugs, the more profitable the drug trade becomes.
2. To make a difference,
we've got to get drugs off the black market.
Why?
- To protect people's health.
Drugs available on the black market are of unknown purity.
People turn to more dangerous methods of drug administration
(eg. injecting) to get more 'bang for their buck'. Injecting
brings with it special risks, in particular overdose and the
transmission of diseases like HIV and Hepatitis C from unsafe
injecting practices.
- To cut the profits of the drug bosses.
Current conditions make it extremely profitable for organised
crime to deal in drugs. So long as drugs are only obtainable
from black market sources, drug crime will continue to flourish.
A report of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the National
Crime Authority in 1988* estimated the annual turnover in
Australia for heroin, cocaine and cannabis alone to be $2.6
billion.
- To reduce police corruption.
As the current NSW Police Royal Commission has demonstrated,
police officers have been accepting bribes from drug dealers,
and probably have been doing so for a long time. There will
always be pressure on young police to accept bribes so long as
black market conditions exist.
- To reduce property crime.
Because of the peculiar economics of the black market, drugs are
available at prices which vastly exceed the cost of their
production. An ounce of marijuana currently costs more than an
ounce of pure gold. Safe pharmaceutical-grade heroin, once used
as a medicine, can be produced cheaply. But when dependent users
have to rely on the black market to obtain the drug at
exorbitant prices, some turn to property crime to finance their
addiction.
* Parliamentary Joint
Committee on the National Crime Authority, 1988, chaired by Peter
Cleeland MP |
