Australia is on the path to becoming Mexico-lite as the AFP tries to stop illicit drug use

The brave – some might say crazy-brave – move by the AFP aims to reduce the demand for drugs, particularly cocaine and ice. But it won’t be easy.

The AFP’s campaign to change attitudes towards illicit drugs represents the first major push-back against the defeatist attitude which has seeped into the Australian psyche about the country’s rampant appetite for illicit drugs.

The brave – some might say crazy-brave – move by the AFP aims to reduce the demand for drugs, particularly cocaine and methamphetamine, which is flooding into and across the country at a truly terrifying rate. It also shows the public what the real dangers of illicit drug use are.

Drugs have started to affect every aspect of Australian life – pushing up the road toll, the homicide rate, domestic violence and child abuse and neglect rates. Drugs have corrupted our borders, undermined our national economy, sparked deadly turf wars in our suburbs and filled our hospitals, ambulances and police cells with victims.

The only people who benefit from drugs are the bikies, international gangsters and cartel bosses who fill their pockets with obscene profits while destroying lives.

So-called “trusted insiders’’ who work on our borders are alleged to be involved.

There are serious concerns Australia is on the path to becoming Mexico-lite.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) High Volume Drug Crime Team, together with Victoria Police Joint Taskforce Icarus members arrested and charged a 32-year-old Melbourne man, in connection to the seizure of 34 kilograms of illicit drugs from an alleged 'safe house' at Docklands in January 2021.

Yet still Australians retain a relaxed attitude towards drugs, whether it’s the cocaine favoured by social media influencers and footballers, or the ice which wracks the suburbs and regional towns.

Overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people using drugs, government responses have usually been to treat it as a health problem, and decriminalise possession of some drugs, to keep people out of overstretched criminal justice systems. In the ACT, a Labor government backbencher has proposed a bill to decriminalise the possession of drugs including ice and heroin. A major push is on for pill-testing at music festivals across the nation. There has been no concerted push-back, until now, against this creeping view that drugs are just part of life.

The AFP does not chase drug users. Its focus is purely on large-scale dealers and criminal syndicates importing the deadly junk into Australia – the supply end of the chain. Its campaign to highlight the health, societal and environment impact of drugs represents a broadening of its focus onto the demand end.

Getting Australia off drugs is an ambitious project and will likely take years, if not decades.