Pubdate: Fri, 29 Sep 2006
Source: Daily Telegraph (Australia)
Copyright: 2006 News Limited
Contact:  http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/113
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

HARM MINIMISATION THE ONLY WAY

AT the first Australasian Amphetamine Conference at Darling Harbour 
yesterday, delegates were asked to accept an over-riding message - 
that harm minimisation is the best, probably even the only, workable 
approach to the problem of illegal drug use.

While harm minimisation proponents asserted that harm reduction 
strategies include measures to disrupt the supply of illegal drugs 
and strategies to discourage the use of such drugs, the underlying 
message was constant: the principle focus of policy in the realm of 
illegal drug use ought to be on making sure users are as at little 
risk as possible.

Which is a motherhood statement. No-one would suggest that the health 
risks addicted drug users are exposed to should be disregarded.

But the fundamental problem with the harm reduction approach is that 
it tends to skate past the real issue - which is that drugs such as 
illegal amphetamines are a chronic social blight which we should be 
doing our upmost to oppose.

So our primary focus ought to be on ridding the community of the 
potentially fatal menace of illegal drugs, rather than on protecting 
addicts against themselves.

For here is an inescapable reality - the use of illegal drugs is a 
choice. No-one is obliged to consume methamphetamine, no more than 
they are compelled to inject heroin or smoke cannabis. So there is an 
ethical dimension to the issue which should not be de-emphasised.

And let's not suggest inferentially that illegal drug use is 
acceptable because it is inevitable. For in fact, it is neither.

As a result of determined police campaigns here and abroad, heroin is 
now in short supply - with the consequence that heroin overdoses have 
diminished almost to zero. That is unalloyed good news.

Plainly, addiction is not to be trivialised and it is simplistic to 
suggest addicts should "just quit".

They need help and support, which should be provided - to those who 
are willing to be helped.

But we ensure the most important message remains undiluted - choosing 
to take illegal drugs in the first place is the root of the problem. 
Doing all in our power to discourage people from such a disastrous 
choice, and all we can to make illegal drugs unavailable, ought to be 
our primary focus.

BELOVED of crime authors, the image of "the thin blue line" is 
frequently pressed into service to convey the fragility of civilised 
society, and the narrow barrier which protects us again the 
ever-present threat of anarchy.

Drawn, of course, from the idea of police officers linked in a 
protective line, the poetic image is often the reality rather than a 
mere metaphor for serving police officers.

For the dangers are real and constant. Every day policemen and women 
go on duty in the knowledge that they could be called upon to 
confront life-threatening danger. They accept that obligation, even 
against the certain knowledge that some will be lost in their 
life-and death calling.

And today on Police Remembrance Day, which is also St Michael's Day - 
thankful for the brave band of men and women who are willing to 
protect and keep us - we acknowledge the debt we owe.

In doing so we remember officers such as Constable Joseph Luker of 
the Sydney Foot Police, stabbed to death in the line of duty on 
August 23, 1803 - the first officer to so die in service in NSW.

And we remember in our own time officers such as brave Glenn 
McEnallay, who was shot in 2002; Constable David Carty, who was 
stabbed in 1997, and Constable Peter Forsyth who was killed in 1998.

Since the formation of the NSW Police in 1862, 246 officers have lost 
their lives on duty. And what we owe them can never be repaid - but 
on this day we offer heartfelt thanks to a true band of heroes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman