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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 8 Hansard (26 June) . . Page.. 2274 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

We might think that that is all good news, and at one level it is. It is good news to the extent that there have been far fewer drug overdoses and, as a result, far fewer drug overdose deaths in the ACT this year-and certainly fewer last year than in the year before. We can be thankful for that.

Interestingly, though, for governments, policy makers and this Assembly, what the latest drug use survey also reveals is that the reduction in the use of heroin has simply been matched by an increase in the use of other drugs. If one looks at the statistics that are revealed, in terms of drug use, behaviour and habits, one finds that the reduction in heroin use has been accompanied by an almost exact increase in the use of cocaine and meta-amphetamines.

We also know, just from the statistics that we maintain, for instance, at the needle and syringe program-let alone from the advice available to drug workers here in the ACT-that the level of injecting behaviour is almost precisely what it was when the pre-existing levels of heroin were available on the streets. For instance, we know that over the last 12 months 650,000 to 670,000 syringes were dispensed in the ACT as against 700,000 in the previous year, when there was a greater level of heroin around. There has been a decline of 7 or 8 per cent in the number of syringes dispensed, and we can perhaps seek to make some judgments around that.

The point I am making is that there is as much injecting behaviour going on, but it is different substances being injected. That leads to different behaviours and requires different responses, and as a consequence of that we need to base all of our approaches and responses to illicit substance use and drug addiction on the best evidence available. That is why we must be progressive in our responses to drug use; it is why we must be open to other responses; it is why I continue to support a national heroin trial. I remain in communication with other states in relation to that issue, and I will update the Assembly on that at some time in the near future, hopefully.

The government also persists with a consideration of the possibility of an injecting facility being developed in the ACT. We do not resile from our support for that. I acknowledge that injecting behaviours in the ACT have changed-they have changed, and perhaps different responses are required in relation to treatment-but the essential issue remains the same. It is appropriate in Drug Action Week that I acknowledge that the ACT government continues to be committed to exploring a broad range of possible responses to substance abuse and drug addiction within this community.

I will conclude by highlighting some of the issues produced by the change in substance use to meta-amphetamines and cocaine. It does produce very different behaviours in users. The police report to me that they have considerable extra difficulty as a result of the more aggressive behaviour that is often an incident of injecting meta-amphetamines or cocaine. We need to be constantly aware of the needs of drug workers and the need for innovative and aggressive solutions.

Whilst there is a view, which concerns me to some extent, that the tough on drugs approach has led to the reduction in heroin, I do not think it is the case at all. I think there is a range of other factors that have led to the non-availability of heroin. The tough on drugs or border protection issues certainly play a role; the increase in police and customs

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