Pubdate: Tue, 20 Mar 2007
Source: Age, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2007 The Age Company Ltd
Contact:  http://www.theage.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5
Author: Andrew Macintosh
Note: Andrew Macintosh is deputy director of the Australia Institute.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

SENSATIONALISM NO WAY TO FIGHT DRUG ADDICTION

Drugs policy arouses strong emotions. People see drug users and fear 
the unknown. The traditional response from politicians, particularly 
conservatives, has been to exploit these fears for political gain. 
The outcome has been an over-reliance on law enforcement as a means 
of stamping out both the supply and use of harmful drugs.

In 2003, the House of Representatives standing committee on family 
and community affairs inquired into drug abuse and produced a report 
that was in keeping with the history of drug policy. It called for 
the abandonment of harm minimisation as the principal objective of 
the National Drug Strategy. The committee wanted prevention and 
abstinence-based treatment to be the focus of government policy.

This position is partially reflected in the Federal Government's 
"tough on drugs" policy. Penalties have been increased for drug 
offences, funding has been increased for drug law enforcement, the 
Government has run several prevention campaigns based on dramatic 
images of the dangers associated with drug use and money has been 
directed to abstinence-based treatment services. All the while, harm 
reduction and other treatment services have remained chronically under-funded.

Given this history, the recently released report on amphetamines and 
other synthetic drugs by the federal Parliamentary Joint Committee on 
the Australian Crime Commission is a brave document.

Most notably, in contrast to the report from the House of 
Representatives Standing Committee, the committee unanimously 
supported harm minimisation and recommended that "harm-reduction 
strategies and programs receive more attention and resources".

In its conclusions, the committee said "prohibition, while 
theoretically a logical and properly intentioned strategy, is not 
effective". It also argued that "the current national approach to 
illicit drugs - supply reduction, demand reduction and harm reduction 
- - will achieve greater outcomes if a better balance between these 
approaches can be reached". In common parlance, this means there 
should be less emphasis on law enforcement and more on education and 
drug treatment.

Unfortunately, it is a rare event when any government body decides to 
make drug policy recommendations that are based on evidence. The 
report was not received warmly by the Government.

The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family and 
Community Affairs has also launched another drug-related inquiry, 
seemingly to counter the recommendations made by the joint committee. 
And in its recent hearings, the chairwoman of the committee, Bronwyn 
Bishop, attacked representatives from the Department of Health for 
publishing documents containing harm minimisation messages, saying 
"this document is full of harm minimisation. The Prime Minister said 
that he is opposed to harm minimisation and that we do not have it."

Professor Margaret Hamilton, a respected drug expert with more than 
30 years' experience in the field, received a particularly harsh 
broadside for also using this type of terminology, as well as for 
making the sensible observation that moral considerations have 
historically played too great a role in drug debates.

Bishop is on a mission to ensure the Government's drug prevention 
programs are sensationalised, going as far as calling for a campaign 
based on the message that "this is going to scramble your brains".

In this climate, the Government's drug policy is unlikely to change 
markedly in response to the joint committee's recommendations. Yet 
the members of the committee have signalled that there are now 
politicians from across the political spectrum prepared to listen and 
act on the evidence.

It is hoped there will come a time when enough politicians recognise 
that drug use disorders are a health problem that cannot be solved by 
harsh drug laws or sensationalised advertising.

Andrew Macintosh is deputy director of the Australia Institute.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman