Former St Kilda president Rod Butterss wants heroin, ecstasy and cocaine legalised
A high-profile former president of an AFL club has made a radical proposal for the most dangerous drugs to be legalised, in a bid to curb Australia’s war on drugs.
VIC News
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Former St Kilda president Rod Butterss has called for drugs like cocaine, ecstasy and heroin to be legalised.
In an extraordinary interview the recovering addict says the drugs should be manufactured in clean laboratories in Australia under tight government supervision and regulation.
He says Australia has already lost the war on drugs and required a radical approach to help save those suffering from addiction.
Mr Butterss, 60, contacted the Sunday Herald Sun after reading last week’s compelling Ripple Effect special on how the scourge of drugs is killing the youth of Australia.
In a column published online today, he says the impact of drugs in the community had reached crisis point and a radical change is needed.
Mr Butterss has also revealed the full extent of his own addictions, including a “rock bottom” moment when he stood on the balcony of a 26th floor apartment – a can of VB in one hand and a cigarette in the other – and considered ending his life.
It came in September 2009, two years after he left the Saints, when his long-time primary addiction to alcohol and his drug and gambling dependencies almost took him to the point of no return.
“I was on the 26th floor of my apartment in Southbank … I was standing there on the balcony with a can of VB in one hand and a fag (cigarette) in the other,” Mr Butterss told the Sunday Herald Sun.
“I was willing myself to jump over that balcony.
“For some reason, I just couldn’t do it. Thankfully, I went back inside.
“My kids (son Campbell, now 35, and daughter Ashleigh, now 31) flashed through my head.
“I thought to myself, ‘’You haven’t got the guts to jump, but you can’t keep living like this’.
The next day he contacted a person he knew who had himself recovered from alcoholism, and began the long road back.
Apart from one small relapse a few days later, he says he hasn’t touched a drop of alcohol or taken cocaine or ecstasy since that night 10 years ago.
Mr Butterss also detailed:
• He drank alcohol on most days for the best part of two decades, saying he would occasionally go on “three-day benders” and sometimes only had a few hours sleep a night.
• He took cocaine or ecstasy – maybe twice a month – but was never good at “portion control”
• He lost “millions” on the stock market, particularly trading in currencies, while infidelity ruined his marriage and his addictions destroyed other friendships.
• He was diagnosed with Stage 1 bipolar disorder and said mental health issues and addiction were often closely related.
• The connection with the ‘Fellowship’ – those who helped him beat his addiction – helped save his life and he is now mentoring others going through a similar ordeal.
Mr Butterss said his descent into despair intensified after his departure from the Saints in 2007, though he conceded his problems were evident during his time with the club.
But he stressed he never witnessed AFL footballers taking drugs during those times – a contrary view to what former Saints coach Grant Thomas claimed earlier this year.
“You look at some aspects of your life and you are a high-functioning person, you are capable, you are resilient, you are gritty and you get s--- done,” Mr Butterss said.
“But there was one area of my life that was insidious and it engulfs you.
“I remember going to work one Thursday and getting home three days later. As an active alcoholic, I was selfish, self-centred, dishonest and fearful. It was all about me.
“I had businesses, marriage, friendship, status … everything stripped away from me.
“But what I lost most significantly was my self-esteem. I would look at myself in the mirror and see myself as a useless piece of s---.”
Mr Butterss said the current approach to drug epidemic was not working.
“We are halfway through the first quarter (in the war on drugs) and we are down by 25 goals. We are being comprehensively beaten,’’ he said.
“I appreciate the call to legalise drugs would horrify some people. But the system is doomed and unless we take the emotion out of it, it’s only going to get worse.
“Our police are wasting their time, our jails are full, our first responders are under pressure and being attacked, and people are dying. There is no light on the hill, so we need to do something different.”
Mr Butterss said more than 20 countries around the world – including a number of states in the US – had already decriminalised drugs in recent years.
He claimed crimes rates had been reduced without any evidence of increased drug usage.
“The only people who are benefiting now are hardened criminals who are ripping $10 billion out of the community,” he said. “They are filling the drugs with poison and they don’t care one iota about the people consuming them.
“They (the drugs) might be better quality (if they are made legal) and there would be less chance of accidental death.
“And if we can channel some of that $10 billion back into a world class education and world class mental health support network, it might start saving some lives.”
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He knows his controversial plan is highly unlikely to be implemented, saying governments have not even got their heads around ‘pill testing’ and had been slow to introduce safe injecting rooms.
But he couldn’t be more thankful for those who assisted him at his lowest point, saying most people have to wait too long for proper support.
He has also repaired many of his friendships, and has a good relationship with his children.
“They say the opposite of addiction is connection,” he said. “When you have a community of people around you who don’t care what your name is, or what your title is, or how much money you have, it is such a good thing.”
“I am just grateful where I am at with my life now.”