Page 4359 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 22 September 2010
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MS BRESNAN: Yes, they have been, Jeremy. The ACT Greens believe that the most responsible course of action to reduce drug use in the prison is to target demand rather than to try to completely eliminate supply, simply because, even in prisons that implement the draconian measures I mentioned above, they still find ways to supply drugs to prisoners.
We continue to support the existing drug detection measures and punishment for those caught smuggling drugs into the AMC. However, we must acknowledge that these measures are imperfect. We refuse to take a head-in-the-sand approach and simply hope that the drug problem goes away.
When we take the steps to incarcerate someone in our society we have a responsibility to give them the best possible chance to rehabilitate themselves. This includes treating in the most effective fashion any drug problems they may have and preventing prisoners developing further health problems whilst they are inside. The evidence shows that our policy to implement a needle and syringe program is the most effective means of fulfilling this responsibility. Furthermore, our approach is the best method in ensuring correctional officer safety. When it comes to correctional officer safety, drug use minimisation, prisoner health, effective rehabilitation and human rights, we are more than happy to debate the evidence at any time and in any place.
It is unfortunate that the prison is being used as a political football by Mr Hanson as it is an easy target. If we want to implement policies in the prison that actually increase the uptake of drug treatment programs and reduce the rates of blood-borne virus infections which then will have flow-on effects in terms of aiding rehabilitation and reducing recidivism, then we must look to the evidence base and what is proven to work.
Mr Hanson did outline a whole lot of measures earlier—I do acknowledge that—but they are already things that happen in the prison now. He did say that they need to be done more effectively and I will be waiting with bated breath on how Mr Hanson proposes that that will actually be done.
Mr Hanson referred to a report from the Institute of Medicine. I do know that Drug Free Australia is one of the organisations that have quoted from this report but, unfortunately, they did not quote in full the paragraphs, which I will read out for you. I have the full report. These are the paragraphs which they selectively quoted from. I will read out the full paragraphs, to give the context:
As with drug treatment, a common concern is that sterile needle and syringe access may produce unintended results, including more new drug users, expanded networks of high-risk users, more frequent injection, and more discarded needles in the community. However, studies do not find evidence of such outcomes.
Sterile needle and syringe access can prove important in linking drug users to health and social services. Such programs also have the potential to help prevent hepatitis C—which is transmitted more readily by injection drug use than HIV—by providing other sterile injecting equipment, such as cotton swabs and alcohol wipes.
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