The comments by six citizens interviewed about the recent toughening of cannabis laws in the ACT (The Chronicle March 8, p 3) is typical of any discussion about illegal drugs. It is mostly one sided and born of ignorance with calls for tougher laws in the expectation that this will either stop the trafficking or stop people using. This response comes even though very tough drug laws introduced in the past have never achieved any of these things. This ignorance is not necessarily the fault of those interviewed but rather because the other side of the debate is rarely allowed to be heard. [continues 125 words]
A RESPONSE to Michael Gardener's letter (August 15). It seems to be one of the greatest shows of ignorance when people ignore the serious risk of health problems like heroin deaths that are devastating families world wide. The real question is what has our society done to have so many people so miserable with their lives that they resort to drug addiction and in particular heroin addiction? May I suggest that the answer to this question can be found in our failure to protect the values of family, friendship, justice and peace. [continues 81 words]
I BELIEVE Canberra's good reputation as a caring and tolerant society was damaged the day ACT Legislative Assembly members rejected the safe injecting room. Assembly members who have rejected a proven medical program which saves lives, are either totally ignorant of drug addiction or are only interested in power or popularity (certainly not courage or leadership). Either way the rejection of this small trial is, I believe, a crime against humanity. Considering most major health authorities in the world state quite clearly, drug addiction is a health problem. When one considers that there is not a scrap of evidence to prove our present tough-on-drugs laws are working and reduce harm to those most in danger. [continues 159 words]
AFTER blocking the ACT budget due to its funding for the safe heroin injecting room. Brindabella MLA Paul Osborne has called on the Government to set aside funds for naltrexone treatments to rid heroin users of their addiction. Mr Osborne wants the Government to use the $1.29 million crime prevention fund to quickly expand on past trials in Canberra. He said a Western Australian program of 320 places a year had kept 50 per cent of addicts drug-free after six months. [continues 346 words]
THE 2000 Australian drug summit that will be held from June 13-15 in the NSW Parliament will have the theme Promoting Drug Harm Prevention in Australia. The summit plans to bring together individuals and groups committed to harm prevention for drug reform to comment on how prevention can be better managed. Member for Monaro Peter Webb, who is involved in promoting the summit, said it would highlight preventative policies which were not covered at last year 's drug summit. "The summit will recognise the need to prevent harm to the children, families and communities who suffer the effects of other people's drug abuse," he said. [continues 97 words]
WHILE I welcome the Prime Minister's decision to bring forward the funding of community-based agencies conducting drug rehabilitation programs, the current Federal Government policy of zero tolerance for drug use hasn't worked even though there has been an increase in the amount of illicit drugs seized by police and customs officials in the last year. The rapid increase in the number of people using heroin, cocaine, amphetamines and other illicit drugs over the last few years along with the escalation of drug-related crime and deaths through drug overdoses is evidence of its failure. [continues 135 words]
GREENS MLA Kerrie Tucker has urged Health Minister Michael Moore to salvage his proposal for a safe injecting room by adopting a completely different consultative process. However, Mr Moore has questioned the drug law reform convictions of the Greens and the ALP, saying "Kerrie Tucker and Labor have to take some responsibility for the decision-making process and its urgency." "We are talking about regular overdose situations and we are talking about people who are dying because of this situation," Mr Moore said. [continues 275 words]
CHRISSIE Hall-Pascoe, of Dickson, has spent 14 rewarding years working with drug-dependents, so her Australia Day Certificate of Commendation from the Alcohol and other Drugs Council of Australia was just the icing on the cake. Ms Hall-Pascoe, who started out as a volunteer helper in a detox centre, said the work could be tough at times but her belief in its importance kept her motivated. "I have a passion for the client group and a very strong passion to keep the community informed and to limit the harm of drug use," she said. [continues 306 words]
KNOWN drug-use areas such as City Hill are becoming a serious public health risk due to inadequate sharps disposal, Labor Urban Services spokesman John Hargreaves said last week. However, a spokeswoman for Urban Services Minister Brendan Smyth countered by accusing Mr Hargreaves of hampering the work of the Sharps Hotline by playing political games. Mr Hargreaves called on the Government to introduce regular clean-up patrols to prevent the build up of dangerous materials such as used syringes and swabs. [continues 240 words]
PEOPLE in favour of the installation of safe injecting places in Canberra might do well to consider the following: The problem is that young people and other drug users in Canberra are taking the drugs at all, so a place should not be provided for them to do so. We must not convey to people, especially young people, that it is safe to take drugs, when it is not. "Safe" and "injecting" is a contradiction in terms when it comes to drugs like heroin. We need to be giving people, especially young people, the "no" message, instead of do it - but safely. To say no to drugs is the safest. Politicians in NSW have reportedly rejected the concept of safe injecting places. VICKI SALKIN Lyneham - --- Checked-by: Don Beck [end]
A NEW voice entered the ACT drug policy debate last week with the formation of a conservative lobby group, Make Illicit Drugs Socially Unacceptable (MIDSU). Legislative Assembly Speaker Greg Cornwell and a representative of Liberal Senator Margaret Reid attended the inaugural meeting in the Assembly functions room. MIDSU convener Collis Parrett said the group was opposed to harm minimisation measures such as the heroin trial (which he labelled a "drug maintenance program"), shooting galleries and needle exchange facilities. It also wanted to see methadone programs gradually phased out. [continues 274 words]
VICTOR Heath (Letters, October) highlights the fundamental problem with the fight against drug use - it being illegal. Syringes in our parks, prostitution, property crime and the profit from the drug trade are all due to the underground nature of their use. The drug trade should be considered like any other business - supply relies upon demand and therefore the suppliers need to create demand to make their product viable. If the profit was taken out of the drug trade by removing its total prohibition and supply being controlled and administered through the government, the profit would be eliminated and therefore the incentive to create supply. [continues 79 words]
I THOUGHT at first as, no doubt, did many others that Carrie May's letter (The Chronicle, October 19) was a send up of the "no tolerance" position on illicit drugs. It is so simplistic and naive. She seems to think that harm minimisation strategies being investigated by Health Minister Michael Moore will somehow harm the "rest of us" and that a referendum on drugs would "stop this nonsense once and for all". The point she misses is that addicts have a serious medical condition, whether "self-inflicted" or not. This, and the unfortunate social consequences of the substance of their addiction being illegal, is all that separates them from "the rest of us". [continues 72 words]
A NEW voice entered the ACT drug policy debate last week with the formation of a conservative lobby group, Make Illicit Drugs Socially Unacceptable (MIDSU). Legislative Assembly Speaker Greg Cornwell and a representative of Liberal Senator Margaret Reid attended the inaugural meeting in the Assembly functions room. MIDSU convener Collis Parrett said the group was opposed to harm minimisation measures such as the heroin trial (which he labelled a "drug maintenance program"), shooting galleries and needle exchange facilities. It also wanted to see methadone programs gradually phased out. [continues 271 words]
