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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Comment
John Birmingham

Even Queensland has realised the war on drugs is a failure. When will NSW catch on?

Ecstasy tablets on black background
People found possessing small quantities of drugs in Queensland will now not face charges until their fourth offence. Photograph: portokalis/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Back in the early 90s, taking an evening stroll through Sydney’s charming inner suburb of Paddington – my head filled with buckets of kaleidoscopically powerful THC – I suffered what Star Trek fans would recognise instantly as a spatial and temporal anomaly.

I transitioned from the gentle and welcoming climes of the nicer, more southerly Paddington deep into the oppressive and threatening aura of the mirror universe Paddington, in Queensland, a thousand klicks north and at least two-and-a-half Enlightenments behind.

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