Page 3404 - Week 10 - Thursday, 20 October 2022
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The efforts have been considerable but they have also been very consistent over many, many years. I sincerely thank him for those efforts.
I also very sincerely acknowledge the efforts of Minister Stephen-Smith and thank her for them. I acknowledge the strength of her effort in progressing the government amendments and working so collaboratively across government to get us to where we are today. Again, they are considerable and consistent efforts that, having reflected very personally, I also think strike the right balance here. I commend the bill to the Assembly.
DR PATERSON (Murrumbidgee) (10.52): I rise today to speak in support of the Drugs of Dependence (Personal Use) Amendment Bill. I want to start by thanking and commending my colleague Mr Pettersson for his commitment and hard work to decriminalise small amounts of drugs for personal use in our community. This is an incredibly complex area of policy and legislation. I would also like to acknowledge and thank Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith for her work in progressing this. This is an incredibly challenging issue which has drawn many different, passionate and emotional responses from our community and stakeholders. I would also like to acknowledge Mr Bill Bush, who is in the audience, for his commitment to this cause.
I congratulate the government for not shying away from such a highly contentious matter and for being prepared to take on the challenge of robust debate in exchange for the positive outcomes that can be achieved. I also look forward to an end of the scaremongering by Mr Hanson of Murrumbidgee residents. Mr Hanson seems to believe that if he yells “meth” and “heroin” enough, people will be scared of this reform. But I would like to say that there is actually a significant evidence base behind this. When Mr Hanson last spoke about it, he referred to three submissions to the drugs of dependence inquiry out of the 59 that we received, and the three that he highlighted were speaking against the reforms.
The evidence is overwhelming. In an earlier speech, I highlighted a particular submission from the drugs of dependence inquiry from the Uniting Church to the ACT Legislative Assembly. This submission really struck me, and I believe it is important to reiterate the point. The Uniting Church submission explicitly talks about treating people who experience drug dependency with dignity, recognising the worth of every person and treating all with respect.
There are many reasons why people may choose to try drugs. What we know is that drugs can be harmful and that they impact individuals in many different ways. Some drugs are highly impacting on the body and highly addictive. There are a multitude of factors, such as individual physiology, health, mental health, past experiences of trauma and poverty that can all contribute to why one person may become dependent or addicted and others may not.
The problem is that the drug use can cause, contribute to and exacerbate these experiences of trauma, poverty, mental ill health and poor physical health. In any other context, when we talk about people who have experienced trauma, poverty, mental illness or poor physical health, we would naturally express deep compassion. However, when these factors are associated with drug use, historically, as a community, these people have been met with significant stigma. It is time to change that. People who experience drug dependency experience a health problem.
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