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Former conservative Queensland Premier Campbell Newman says drugs and their use should be legalised, in a radical new position often held by ex-politicians and policeman after they have retired or been shafted from positions of power that they only managed to hold by saying exactly the opposite of this kind of stuff.

Newman says he wants a public discussion around drug use after five different young people died at an array of NSW music festivals over the Summer.

“Imagine if we could divert the resources we’re spending on enforcement to public health campaigns.” he said, in a rare lapse from the standard just-say-no conservative brand of politics he came to be known for.

The remarks were in stark contrast to the steps Mr Newman’s government took to strip alcohol and drug services of critical funding when in office, as well as his controversial VLAD bikie laws that were condemned internationally for blatant civil rights infringements that were ended up mostly making life hard for Vietnam Veterans and other long haired highwaymen.

“We need to have a conversation about decriminalisation or legalisation,” said the former Liberal National Party leader of Queensland who passed laws to incarcerate people for riding bikes in groups bigger than two and wearing enough leather for a highway cop to deem them associated with an outlaw motorcycle gang. Resulting in hundreds of innocent hobbyists placed in solitary confinement and threatened with compulsory pink jumpsuits in the prison yard.