Page 989 - Week 03 - Thursday, 10 March 2016
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
(c) the Summit produced The Canberra Declaration on Illicit Drugs, which calls for governments to approach illicit drug use from a health and community safety perspective, and to move away from the punitive enforcement approach;
(d) there is extensive evidence demonstrating that treatment and harm reduction are the most effective strategies to respond to illicit drug use; and
(e) despite the evidence there remains a strong policy and funding bias towards law enforcement strategies as a response to illicit drug use; and
(2) calls on the ACT Government to:
(a) focus its drug policies to prioritise treatment and harm minimisation and emphasise a policy approach that treats personal illicit drug use as a health issue, rather than a criminal issue; and
(b) become a signatory to The Canberra Declaration on Illicit Drugs in support of this approach.
This is a motion about health. It is about reducing the amount of harm, death, social disadvantage and tragedy that arises due to illicit drug use. Through this motion, I hope to focus the Assembly’s attention on illicit drug policy and on the evidence about what is effective or not when it comes to responding to illicit drug use. In particular, I want to ask members to engage in a rational and thoughtful discussion about the topic of illicit drugs, detached from the temptation to sensationalise it. Unfortunately, this is often not the way the discussion occurs in politics or in the media. We often see a rather unhelpful and over-the-top reaction to any discussion about drug law reform.
I note that some of these issues have been pre-empted in the Assembly in the past few days as the opposition raised them in question time. There is plenty of time now for them to say everything on the issue they wish. However, I urge opposition members, in particular, to treat the issue seriously and to treat with the respect the many people working in health and drug policy who are crying out for politicians to engage in sensible discourse about this topic. They are sick of the tabloid-style sensationalist scaremongering.
The reforms I am discussing are not extreme or sensational. As I said, they are about reducing deaths, illnesses, incarceration and a range of other negative and often tragic outcomes that result from illicit drug use and our response to illicit drug use. As my motion sets out, the change I am advocating is for the government, through its laws and policies, to view personal illicit drug use for what it is: a health issue. Viewing drug use through a health prism means putting our focus on treatment and harm reduction. This contrasts with the common view that it is a criminal issue to be dealt with by a punitive enforcement approach.
I regret to say that I think the ACT is at risk of losing its way. We have been known as a progressive jurisdiction, a jurisdiction at the forefront of drug policy and one that led
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video