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David Heilpern

David Heilpern

David Heilpern is an author and former NSW magistrate.

Hayne-Ward composite

Why should Jarryd Hayne’s crime against a woman get a lesser sentence than Cody Ward’s drug offences?

A serious crime of personal violence attracted a sentence a third of that applied to a set of non-violent drug supply crimes.

  • David Heilpern

Latest

FILE - In this Sept. 20, 2018, file photo, an employee at a medical marijuana cultivator works on topping a marijuana plant, in Eastlake, Ohio. South Carolina lawmakers are once again introducing legislation to legalize marijuana for treatment of critically ill patients in the state, making another go at a debate that has gradually made progress in this deeply red state in recent years. Sen. Tom Davis, a Republican from Beaufort, told The Associated Press that he plans on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2018, to file the Compassionate Care Act in the state Senate. (AP Photo/David Dermer, File)

Drug-driving laws are destructive and ineffective

Some of the saddest cases I dealt with were single mothers in tears, asking how they would manage to get their children to after-school activities. All for a detectable, but non-intoxicating, level of a drug in their system.

  • David Heilpern