Greens MP Cate Faehrmann has admitted that she has “taken MDMA in my 20s and occasionally through my 30s and 40s” in what she says is a bid to bring “honesty” to the debate around recreational drug use in NSW.
So now, ‘good leadership’ in our nation not only engages in illegal, risking, self-harming drug taking, but advocates for the enabling, equipping, endorsing and empowering of ongoing drug use!
Now, it is the drug user who is driving drug policy interpretation at the determinant of the entire three pillar Harm Minimisation Platform…. This ‘honesty’ is only adding to the nefarious strategy of ‘normalization’ of drug use that the pro-drug lobby have been working on for decades. Best practice of the National Drug Strategy of the denying/delaying uptake and exiting of drug use is utterly discarded when recalcitrant and unaccountable conduct drives sentiment. Again, this is what is passing for ‘progressive leadership; and the emerging generation will pay the price for it! Loosing one’s life takes many forms, and disease, dysfunction and early death are all results of drug use/misuse…Maybe not once, but every psychotropic toxin ingesting episode, now potentially endorsed by government, will do harm.
In an opinion piece written for the Herald on Monday, Ms Faehrmann told of a family history with legal and illegal drugs including a mother who suffered a debilitating addiction to prescription drugs, saying that people from all walks of life including “journalists, tradies, lawyers, public servants, doctors, police and yes, politicians” use drugs.
Cate Faehrmann says she wants to bring honesty to the debate around pill testing
But Ms Faehrmann, 48, refused to answer when asked if she used MDMA or other recreational drugs while employed as a NSW MP.
“I have been prepared to admit I took drugs in my 20s and that continued into my adult life. I’m not willing to go down a line of inquiry into who, what, when, where, how for obvious reasons. I’m not going to go there,” she said.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones from The Royal Australasian College of Physicians says there is now enough evidence to warrant carefully designed trials.
“Throughout my 30s and 40s, I’ve known journalists, doctors, lawyers, police and some politicians who have taken illegal drugs. Not just cannabis, MDMA as well.”
Taking drugs is not commonplace in political circles, she said.
“When I’m suggesting I know people who use, it’s once a year, once every six months, on holidays. This is the thing with MDMA – generally, most people will use it a few times a year. It’s not a type of drug a lot of people use on a regular basis that they get addicted to, it’s a very different type of drug,” she said.
Ms Faehrmann’s comments come as the debate about pill testing at music festivals continues to rage.
On Friday, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said that experts had provided her with conflicting advice on the merits of pill testing.
“For every expert who advises us to look at pill testing there’s another few who say ‘don’t’, and we rely on the advice of a number of people across the network,” she said.
Ms Berejiklian’s office on Sunday did not respond to the Herald‘s questions about who those experts are.
Opposition Leader Michael Daley has flagged that he would consider it if elected in March, saying “just say no is not the answer”.
On Saturday, hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Sydney to demand the Premier soften her hardline stance on drugs and pill testing, to which her government is opposed.
“If there was a way in which we could ensure that lives were saved through pill testing we would consider it – but there is no evidence provided to the government on that,” Ms Berejiklian said earlier this month.
For complete story go to WHO IS RUNNING DRUG POLICY IN THIS COUNTRY?