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Part I Yesterday's 7:30 Report on the left's ABC carried a story about the role of the Australian Federal Police's role in making sure that the 'Bali 9″ were arrested in Indonesia where the
y will likely face the death penalty. Not being an avid ABC watcher I didn't catch this story, but rather read about it on Ken Parish's blog - where Ken puts forward the case for why Australia shou
ld help other countries execute our citizens:
But what would actually have happened if the AFP had followed the advice of Kezza and his PC luvvie mates? For a start, some of the 'mules' might have ended up slipping through the police net and u
nloading their deadly cargo on vulnerable young Australian kids. Come on, let's all say it together in chorus: WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN? Now, don't get me wrong, like any good RWDB I fully support the death penalty. I firmly believe there are some people that simply shouldn't go on living. Murderers are a good example. Genocidal Dictators. Terrorists. I can think of many situations where I'd gladly volunteer to be on the firing squad. However, people whose only crime it has been to deliver a product to a supplier whose main plan is to sell it to willing buyers don't quite make the list of people who should be put to death. If th
at were the case, about 80% of the world's population would be on death row. Ken describes heroin as a 'deadly cargo', so let's examine this statement .. It's true that heroin can cause death in certain situations - namely when too high a dosage is taken, or taken in combination with other depressants. According to the Alcohol and Drug Council, 599 Australians died in 1997 from heroin overdoses. In comparison, in the same year, nearly 3300 died and 50,000 were hospitalised as a result of alcohol abuse, and even more as
a result of tobacco smoking. About 2,000 Australians die each year in road accidents. The leading causes of death among 15-24 year olds (THOSE VULNERABLE KIDS) in Australia are shown in this graph:
 (Source) Motor vehicle accidents are the perennial favourite, followed by suicide and 'other accidents' including drowning and accidental poisoning a safe third.
As an aside, hanging is by far the most popular form of suicide amongst males, with more than double its nearest rival (firearms) by percentage. So let's go on and add rope retailers like Bunnings
to the list of bad people who are selling their deadly cargo to our vulnerable kids. It's true - in a fashion - to say that heroin is killing our kids. But then again, so are cars, booze, ropes, guns, insecticide, and water. Heroin would probably in somewhere between guns and Round
up in the list of what's killing kids in Australia. Yet, heroin is the only one of these things that is banned in Australia, and also the only one that would cause people like to Ken to approve of the death penalty for Australians caught selling the
m. I'm going to give Ken the benefit of the doubt here and assume he doesn't support the death penalty for car salesmen - the group of people most responsible for the deaths of young Australians.
But why not? Car salesmen are just as responsible for car accident deaths as bottle shop owners are for alcohol-related deaths, and as heroin dealers are for overdose deaths. Either this is about protecting the kids or it's not. All of the things mentioned above are killing kids, so if that's what really bugged you about heroin then you should be shouting in the streets
for all of them to be banned. It really is that simple. But that's not what really bugs people about heroin, is it? It's more the fact that it is illegal. But why, exactly, is heroin illegal while much more dangerous drugs like alcohol are not? (I'm not
going to lump tobacco in here, because it's not really the drug - nicotine - that kills you, it's all the other crap. If you just get your nicotine from patches you won't die - promise). Continued..
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