As part of "Drug Action Week", an Alcohol and other Drugs Council initiative, Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform is organising a Forum which will take place on Thursday 28^th June at 7.15pm for 7.30pm at the Reception Room of the Legislative Assembly. Kerrie Tucker, MLA will be hosting and chairing this event. A panel of speakers will address the dimensions of the drug problem from the point of view of agencies or sectors that do not have drugs as their principle focus but are none the less affected by drugs in an indirect way. These will include speakers from the mental health area, suicide prevention, education and children at risk. Please keep this date free (it is our normal meeting night) and invite as many as you can from your communities. We will have further information at our May meeting on Thursday 24^th.

Dr Michael Tedeschi, Senior Medical Officer with the Alcohol and Drug Program will be speaking about the new pharmacotherapies becoming available for opiate dependency including Naltrexone.

Over the last few weeks in the ACT there has been some groundwork laid for the forth coming ACT election with the Justice Minister, Bill Stefaniak, introducing legislation to increase the strength of some laws. One of the laws which limited conditions under which bail can be provided was passed with Kerrie Tucker (MLA, ACT Greens), the only LA member to vote against it. She seems to be the only member of the Legislative Assembly concerned about this.

This groundwork sets the scene for a law and order "Dutch auction" bidding that is sure to happen during an election campaign. That is unless we point out the folly of such action!

But this is not only happening in the ACT. We have seen the Federal Government’s ineffective "tough on drugs" approach which has not stemmed overdose deaths or reduced drug usage over the last two terms of office, and we can see by looking at the various states that those governments too, think that tougher law and order on crime will win votes. The Queensland government in the last few days passed a bill through parliament, unchallenged, to make strip searches of prisoners compulsory whenever those prisoners return from a period in hospital or from a court appearance or after contact visits. These searches are to be accompanied by Big Brother camera footage of the event,.

Here in the ACT, Mr Stefaniak, the Justice Minister is also introducing a tougher law and order bill which has the aim of increasing community safety and to act as a deterrent to crime. One of the features which should worry most citizens is, as I understand it, the removal, in certain circumstances, of the need to obtain a warrant to enter premises.

A number of errors have been made by police in the US breaking into wrong houses in search of drugs with guns drawn and where innocent people have been killed or been traumatised. Will removing the checks and balances against that sort of thing make us feel more secure?

The ACT Justice Minister obviously understands that most crime is caused by drug addiction because he stated in the Assembly’s supervised injecting place debate in December 1999 that 85–90 percent of heroin used is paid for by proceeds of crime.

Surely then it makes more sense to deal with this root cause rather than increasing police powers.

The evidence is quite clear that jailing addicts is not a solution and that increasing the severity of the law has no effect in reducing the crime. On the other hand the evidence is equally clear that increasing treatment places and options is effective. The Swiss heroin prescription program is one effective way of managing addiction and it has reduced crime by up to 95 percent. Even the often (but wrongly) maligned methadone maintenance program has been shown to manage addiction and reduce crime.

ABC news on this subject reported:

But where are the drug treatment programs in Queensland jails? The answer is that they are almost non-existent. Perhaps it is a question that should be asked of all states?

The tough law and order approach is too easy for politicians looking to present the voters with a quick fix solution. Quick fix solutions by past governments that gave us prohibition laws, are the causes of the problems we are having today.

But there are no quick fix solutions in this area. It takes effort and hard work by politicians to tackle the social and health issues behind drug addiction and related crime, and courage to trial new initiatives such as heroin prescription and courage to modernise our drug laws.

In the next election will you vote for someone who genuinely wants to deal with the root cause of drugs and related crime; someone who will look to the evidence and the experts for advice, or will you vote for someone who wants to follow a populist law and order approach even when the evidence suggests they do otherwise?

This is a transcript of The World Today broadcast at 12:10 AEST on local radio.

The World Today - Tuesday, May 8, 2001 12:45

JOHN HIGHFIELD: Well there's been a changing of the guard at the world's principal drug law enforcement body. The United Nations International Narcotics Control Board has long been dominated by the United States, reflecting hard line views on drug policy, espoused by the White House.

But in a little noted vote last week, the United States lost its seat on the board of the international drug agency.

As Washington correspondent Michael Carey reports for us, this raises questions about just where the drug enforcement body is now headed.

MICHAEL CAREY: When the ACT first floated a heroin trial proposal in the 1990's it was warned that such a move would be in contravention of Australia's international agreement on drugs. That warning came from the International Narcotics Control Board, the 13-member UN [United Nations] body which assesses drug policies around the world, in light of standing United Nations' Conventions.

And in recent years its interpretations have closely modeled the US's famed war on drugs philosophy, effectively backing a global zero tolerance model which precluded decriminalisation or legalisation.

But for the foreseeable future, Washington is going to have to apply pressure to keep the board on track from the outside. This morning, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher revealed the US candidate who'd served as vice-president on the board had failed to win an expected third term.

Australia’s first supervised injecting room has now opened but without fanfare and without trumpets.

This opening comes after a long running battle with the Kings Cross Chamber of Commerce who object to the location (but not to the facility). While the NSW Supreme Court action brought by the Chamber has been dismissed, the Chamber has vowed to fight on. However their chances of winning an appeal at the next highest court is unlikely to succeed and they cannot now have an injunction issued to prevent the facility from operating.

The presiding judge, Justice Sully of the Supreme Court, ordered the Chamber to pay costs. The decision upholds the validity of the licence and upholds the role of the Uniting Church Property Trust as the holder of the licence.

The spokesperson for the chamber, Mr Malcolm Duncan, is a barrister who ran in the last state election as an independent for the seat of Bligh but only received a very small number of votes. Clover Moore is the sitting state member for Bligh and supports the injecting room.

The injecting room has now been operating for a few weeks and over 100 persons used the facility in the first week. The centre has had its first overdose patient, whom the staff revived with oxygen. In other circumstances this person would probably have overdosed in a dark lane or toilet and may not have been revived.

The injecting room has been under the media spotlight. The director, Dr Ingrid Van Beek, has put in considerable effort to minimise the impact that the media might have by briefing media and providing file footage for TV media to use. This seems to have helped but the media presence may have deterred some users. Opening the centre on the night of a major football game may have helped take away the first user/first day sensationalism as Australia cheered for their favourite team. When the novelty for the media wears off, usage of the facility is expected to increase.

The last word will always be those of the Rev’d Harry Herbert of the Uniting Church who has said: "saving lives seems to be the Christian thing to do"

Following is a list of events which will be occurring across the nation during Drug Action Week June 25 – June 29, 2001. Further details are available as they come to hand on ADCA’s website www.adca.org.au. Unfortunately the site does not presently have times and venues but it does have contact numbers so if you are interested in attending any of these events please contact the relevant event organiser.

Monday 25 June Launch of DRUG ACTION WEEK 2001 - Odyssey House, Sydney NSW

Wednesday 27 June National Alcohol Tax Reform Alliance – activities in Perth, Adelaide, Canberra

Thursday 28 June Launch of National Indigenous Substance Misuse Council – Parliament House, Canberra