Guest essay by Eric Worrall

On the 18th of this month, Dr. Alex Wodak, a high profile Australian expert on drug rehabilitation, named fear of climate change as one of the major problems driving young people into the kind of despair which leads to addiction to hard drugs, during his testimony to the NSW Government Ice Inquiry.

An excerpt of the transcript which has just been made available is below;

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First, the threshold step is redefining drugs as primarily a health and social issue rather than primarily a law enforcement issue. Second, drug treatment has to be expanded and improved until it reaches the same level as other health services. Third, all penalties for personal drug use and possession have to be scrapped.

Fourth, as much of the drug market as possible has to be regulated while recognising that part of the drug market is already regulated, such a methadone treatment, needle and syringe programs, medically supervised injecting centres. It will, of course, never be possible to regulate the entire drug market. We have regulated parts of the drug market before. Edible opium was taxed and regulated in Australia until 1906 and in the United States Coca-Cola contained cocaine until 1903.

Fifth, efforts to reduce the demand for powerful psychoactive drugs in Australia have had limited benefit and require a new focus. Unless and until young Australians feel optimistic about their future, demand for drugs will remain strong. Young people, understandably, want more certainty about their future prospects, including climate, education, jobs and housing affordability. Change will be slow and incremental, like all social policy reform.

As Herb Stein, as adviser to President Nixon said:
Things that cannot go on forever don’t.

Drug prohibition cannot go on forever and will be replaced by libertarian paternalism. Thank you.

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Source: https://www.iceinquiry.nsw.gov.au//assets/scii/transcripts/Decriminalisation-round-table/Decriminalisation-Roundtable-Transcript.pdf

How widespread is fear of extreme climate change?

According to a recent Rasmussen poll, 51% of people under 35 believe it is at least “somewhat likely” that humanity will be wiped out in the next 15 years (h/t ClimateDepot).

51% OF YOUNG VOTERS BELIEVE HUMANITY COULD BE WIPED OUT WITHIN 15 YEARS

Posted on September 23, 2019 | by Scott Rasmussen  

Over the next 10-15 years, 29% of all voters believe it is at least somewhat likely that the earth will become uninhabitable and humanity will be wiped out. A ScottRasmussen.com national survey found that 71% disagree and find it unlikely.

The totals include 10% who consider it Very Likely and 37% who say Not at All Likely.

There is a dramatic difference by age on this question. Half (51%) of voters under 35 believe it is at least somewhat likely humanity will be wiped out in the next decade or so. Only 12% of senior citizens agree (and only 4% of seniors believe it is Very Likely).

In the early days of the Cold War, many young people had similar concerns that the world would be destroyed by nuclear weapons. Another generation was convinced that overpopulation would devastate the human race by the 1980s. While we do not have comparable polling data for those periods, the response of young people today seems very similar.

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Read more: https://scottrasmussen.com/51-of-young-voters-believe-humanity-could-be-wiped-out-within-15-years/

Obviously most people under 35 will grow out of their climate fears, just as a previous generation overcame their fears of the cold war and nuclear armageddon.

But not everyone will make it.

How many children’s lives are being ruined right now, because over half of young people in the USA believe there will be no tomorrow?

When will the educators, the alarmist scientists, the sensationalist media, the unscrupulous politicians, who have promoted climate fear and destroyed economic opportunities with their regressive carbon taxes and expensive green energy plans, who have helped drain our young people of hope and a reason to make positive life choices, be made to face the horrific consequences of their selfishness?