Select Committee on Home Affairs Memoranda


APPENDIX D

How IDMU can assist with development of policy

  1.  IDMU can advise Government on much of the baseline data outlined in Hellawell's reports, but not available from "official" sources. We have been conducting large scale surveys of drug users since 1984, involving data on frequency of use, consumption levels, demographic data, indicators (arrest/treatment episodes) and market data, including attitudes towards and prices of drugs at street and wholesale levels. Although some of the data is published, the vast majority remains unpublished but available for appropriate analyses.

  2.  Our research and experience can assist the Government on the following aspects of policy:

    —  Drug prices and market economics

    —  Appropriate levels of excise duty

    —  Appropriate limits for personal possession (ie limits below which no action would be taken, or below which no charges for "intent" would be brought)

    —  Appropriate limits for personal cultivation (eg maximum size of flowering area or wattage of lighting)

    —  Legal distribution systems (eg licensed clubs, cannabis cafes)

    —  Individual licensing (eg for medical users or for small scale grower/suppliers)

    —  Criteria for decisions whether or not to prosecute medicinal cannabis users

    —  Drug Driving Policy

    —  Research and information (questions in future surveys or data from previous surveys).


 
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