Page 507 - Week 02 - Thursday, 25 February 1993
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Community cost is measured in many ways. There is a simple economic cost to the health system of overprescription on the national health scheme. Then there is the cost of problems in newborn babies, which become an emotional and financial cost to the family as well as to the health system. Danger to others when operating machinery or driving is another aspect of dependence on benzodiazepines. In the same way that alcohol can affect people's relationships, so may tranquillisers inhibit their response and judgment. One of the things that came up was the worry of mothers who were taking these drugs and driving children to school. Their reactions may not be as quick as they should be to a child running in front of the car or a car going through a "stop" sign which they do not see. This is quite a problem.
Finally, I would like to comment on two of the committee's recommendations. Firstly, recommendation 5 deals with the education of users of these drugs. Such a scheme should include a provision that all doctors and dispensing chemists advise the patient of the possible problems of abuse of the drugs they are receiving. I know that most chemists take the responsibility of doing that, so it is no criticism of them, but I think it needs to be made clearer. A warning on a bottle is easily missed. As we know, warnings on cigarette packets have not really stopped people smoking. A warning from a trusted family doctor, or from the pharmacist the person attends to have prescriptions made up, cannot be shrugged off in the same manner. This is very important, and perhaps the Government could look at putting out a leaflet describing all the problems. We know that people often take things and never read the labels.
Recommendation 7 discusses grants to non-government agencies. I believe that a condition of any grant from the Government should be that this treatment is offered for people on benzodiazepines. The community must address the hidden problem of prescription drug abuse and we must provide the means for this to occur. In the future I would like to see benzodiazepines used only as a last resort and the term "mother's little helper" used to refer to the new breed of Australian men who share the tasks and responsibilities of running a home and bringing up children.
May I say, Madam Speaker, that it was an enjoyable committee to be on. Mrs Carnell had a lot more knowledge than Mr Moore and I could possibly acquire because she is a pharmacist, and she was a great help to the committee. Our trip to Sydney, talking to so many people in the field, gave us a wide view of how serious this problem is. As we all know, these are not drugs that we can take people off immediately and put them onto something else, as we have done in the past. If we were to take people off these drugs immediately many would die. They are very serious and frightening drugs to let loose on the community without a lot of understanding. I think this inquiry has opened our eyes, and I hope that the rest of the Assembly members will realise from reading the report that this is a problem for society and that we should be looking into it in a serious way.
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