Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Kyle Sandilands has wildly called for cocaine to be legalised in Australia and sold at Chemist Warehouse stores, reigniting the debate over the nation’s illicit drug laws.
The shock jock suggested the white powder should be stocked at the popular pharmacy during his radio show, Kyle Sandilands Live, on Wednesday.
“What I think they should do with the cocaine is this: Stop trying to stop people snorting coke, put the fucking cocaine for sale at Chemist Warehouse, so it’s pure, it’s a full gram,” he said.
“Who cares if someone’s blasting some lines?
“It’s dangerous when criminals are in charge.
“It’s very dangerous for what they’re cutting it with.
“If you really cared about people’s lives, you would decriminalise it, and I reckon people would probably slow down buying it.”
His controversial comments drew varied reactions from listeners on whether selling the drug in a controlled environment would reduce risky drug use.
“Safety controlled is better than underground zero control,” one listener said.
Another questioned: “If it’s such a dangerous drug, why would you sell it on the shelf at a chemist behind the counter? That’s stupid isn’t it?”
Former criminal turned journalist Ryan Naumenko said: “This is ridiculous…Coke use shouldn’t even be joked about.”
It comes after Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett called for a renewed discussion about the country’s illicit drug use, its links to organised crime and the impact on national security.
“As AFP Commissioner, I strongly believe Australia needs to have a renewed conversation about organised crime and illicit drugs,” she wrote in an opinion piece for The Nightly.
“Australians take too many illicit drugs, and it is absurd how much money users are willing to pay them.
“Our first line of defence must always be to educate the community about the harms of illicit substances and to warn them not to take them.”
The Australian Capital Territory is the only jurisdiction in Australia where small personal-use amounts of cocaine and other illicit drugs are legal.
However, possession of cocaine in the ACT is still unlawful, and police can confiscate the substance.
Sandilands, who was sacked from the Kyle and Jackie O show in March, has previously been open about his own cocaine addiction during the late 2000s following his divorce.
In 2018, he admitted to “burying his face in a pile of cocaine” to help him move on from his split from former pop star Tamara Jaber in 2010.
“The divorce had happened, and life wasn’t great back then, so I buried my face into a big pile of cocaine to try and get over it. It didn’t work,” he said on the radio at the time.
“I was a bit depressed.”
“Well, I didn’t even know if I was depressed or not. Just was self-medicating, bumping back dozens of lines.”
After Sandilands lost his KIIS 106.5 breakfast contract following a a heated on-air argument with co-host Jackie “O” Henderson and settled a massive legal dispute with ARN Media, he started his own radio show.
He revealed he was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm that has grown and may require surgery and recently had to miss hosting shifts on his new show due to severe pain flare-ups from a hernia following a public meet-and-greet event.
