The Western Australian Police are trialling "Drug Bins" at this weekends Rockit festival in Joondalup. The bins will be in place at the entrance to the festival for punters to dispose of their drugs before they run the gauntlet of the dreaded sniffer dogs, which the Police have indicated will be present. The public has been assured that anyone disposing of their drugs in the bins will not be charged with drug possession, nor will any surveillance footage be taken.
It seems to me to be a great piece of discretionary policing that is a step in the direction of harm minimisation as opposed to recording convictions and criminalising drug use, which is what the status quo has been up until now.
I believe a much better idea though would be a "Drug Buy Back". And why not? It worked with guns. The problem with the drug bins is that drugs are very expensive and I can't see too many people willingly parting with their stash, most will likely take the risk of possibly being sniffed out by the dogs. If the police really want to stop the drugs getting into the festival they should offer to buy the drugs at market price. Quite simple really, just produce the receipt you got from your dealer, along with your drugs and the police give you the cash. Problem solved.
Just as an after thought, if someone could get me one of those bins I would be willing to pay big bucks for it...
Winter Solstice
3 months ago
3 comments:
So drug suppliers give out receipts...times have changed!!
My guess is the punters will just take the stuff on the way there, maybe all of it...and we will have the same problem.
The issue of WHY people need to take such destructive drugs is never tackled cos its just too fucking difficult.
Why don't we start a buy-back business Spencer? Or, we could tour all the festivals with tins labelled 'Drug Bins'. The possibilities are endless. We could sell T-Shirts with 'Drug Bin' prints. It's a great economy-boosting opportunity in the current economic crisis.
Duh.
Yes Michelle, times have changed, I believe that in some wealthier suburbs the crack dealers carry eftpos machines.
The cops would probably outsource the buy back, so maybe we should tender for the contract Sarah?
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