In today’s youth culture the penalties for taking drugs don’t matter a great deal, because drug-taking has become so normalised in Australia. “Prohibition of drugs is not working”, according to Vivienne Moxham-Hall.
She writes that “Often kids won’t know what they are taking or can take very dangerous risks in mixing their drugs. If something goes wrong, the fear of their parents, of the police and what they might do, often stops them from calling an ambulance. It was understood that you didn’t call an ambulance if something went wrong”.
Vivienne Moxham-Hall is completing a masters of health policy at the University of Sydney.