Page 2113 - Week 07 - Thursday, 20 August 2020
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I am very pleased, therefore, to find that today we have got to a place where we are able to discuss a motion that embodies the notion of harm minimisation. It is a welcome step forward. This is a health issue. That is the conversation we need to be having. How do we support people who find themselves taking drugs, for a range of reasons? Our response needs to be one driven by compassion, by evidence and with a health focus.
The Greens want to create a safe, healthy and connected community by ensuring that people are not impacted by significant health, social, legal and economic harms associated with drugs. We want to ensure that people can access the services and the support they need for substance use, including legal substances such as tobacco and alcohol. That is often lost in this discussion: that the impact of drugs includes the very significant impact of both tobacco and alcohol.
The current approach needs revision to better reduce the harm caused by drug use. We need to stop the head in the sand approach of previous times, which failed to recognise the reality that many people will experiment with illicit drugs throughout their lives, and criminalisation can unfortunately see many people miss out on the treatment and support they need.
We also need to recognise that negative consequences of drug use are felt differently due to stigma, discrimination and the uneven treatment of people caught up in the justice system. Social and economic inequalities in our society contribute to the harm caused by drugs. Some people are given a warning from the police when they are caught in possession of drugs. Others are not: they are taken into the criminal justice system; they do not get the diversionary opportunities that others do. Where some are able to afford early intervention and rehabilitation services, others cannot; they simply cannot access them. This is not a just system; it is a system that reinforces existing inequality.
Instead, we Greens, for a long time, have taken a harm minimisation approach, which works to reduce the adverse health, social and economic consequences of drug and substance use in our community. This means treating drug use as a health issue. We want to see more money in treatment and rehabilitation services and improve safety for young people, and we continue to want legal reforms that will keep people out of the justice system.
The ACT Greens have a clear and strong drug and alcohol harm reduction plan. I recently announced our initiatives for this election on what we see should be done over the next four years. As somebody said, that is really what an election campaign talks about. Having read Mr Pettersson’s motion today, I am confident that he has read our policy. This package of reforms ensures that people who use drugs, their families and the ACT community are in the best position to address the health, economic and social harms caused by drugs.
By shifting to a public health approach towards drug use, we will see reduced stigma, so that people who use drugs feel comfortable disclosing their drug use and can seek help. This enhanced ability to access support will reduce demand on the criminal
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