Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Is the Federal Government’s Drug Policy “hardline”, or just hard-hearted?

By Esther Singer - posted Thursday, 4 November 2004


In response, Steve Liebke, who works at the Australian Hepatitis Council and is also a member of the Canberra Alliance for Harm Minimisation and Advocacy (CAHMA) says that by virtue of its policies, the Federal Government is “complicit” in the epidemic and that it “has to take responsibility” for the fact that more that 1 per cent of the Australian population is now infected with a preventable, potentially debilitating disease.

Emily Hayes, a worker with Melbourne’s mobile needle exchange, Foot Patrol, agrees. Hayes works with the most marginalised of drug users - those who have nowhere but the streets to use. She distributes clean syringes and needles paid for by the Victorian State Government. But the service has to fund other injecting equipment, like spoons, torniquets and sterile water, by contracting out its services. So workers do syringe disposal for the local council and institutions to top up the coffers.
 
Hayes took me on a tour of Melbourne’s injecting rooms: tiny carparks, hidden lanes. We noticed soft drink bottle lids among the used fits. She explained that these are used to mix up in because, at the moment, a lack of funds means that the exchange can’t distribute plastic spoons. These cheap and simple bits of injecting equipment are vital to preventing infection. Unlike HIV, Hepatitis C can survive in the tiniest traces of blood and for relatively long periods of time. Any shared equipment - not just needles and syringes - can be infectious. When asked if it’s possible to reduce infection rates Hayes is clear, “Only if you had all the equipment available 24 hours”.

Funding levels for NSPs have not kept pace with inflation and wage costs, or with the changing needs of the drug scene. Extended hours are rare even in major cities. In the heart of Melbourne’s street drug scene, Foot Patrol operates for less than 12 hours a day and only 7 on weekends.

Advertisement

The government continues to put the blame back onto drug users. Abbott says, “the best way to avoid Hepatitis C is not to use illicit drugs. I would urge people to take the same hard-line view on that kind of lawbreaking as we do on other kinds of lawbreaking.” To Liebke the message is clear, “Drug users are just filthy junkies and we know their health is bad, but we don’t care”.

But with treatment costs for government estimated at $20,000 per infection, it’s simply bad policy for the Health Minister to hope that illicit drug addicts will “just say no”.

With Abbott’s comments in mind it’s not surprising that a major effect of drug policy continues to be the criminalisation, and incarceration, of drug users. It’s estimated that of the hundreds of millions of dollars the States and Commonwealth put into battling illicit drugs, over 80 per cent goes to law enforcement, while roughly 5 per cent goes to treatment and the rest to prevention and research. While the government claims to be targeting dealers and traffickers, reports from enforcement agencies indicate that most people caught up in the criminal justice system would best be defined as “users” rather than “providers”.

Hayes, who sees the effect of policing on Foot Patrol clients, agrees that it’s “users and street dealers” who are targeted. Nationwide it’s estimated that roughly one in two inmates are serving time for drug-related offences. It’s not just for so-called “hard drugs” either. In NSW alone last year 11,214 people were charged with possession or use of cannabis.

Sadly, jails too, contribute to the Hepatitis C problem. Drugs are still readily available inside, while clean injecting equipment is not. Hayes says many of her clients were infected on the inside, where infection rates are estimated at up to 70 per cent.

Stuart Loveday, Executive Officer of the Hepatitis C Council of NSW, describes an unofficial needle “exchange” already operating in prisons: He says, “Needles are sharpened up against walls and shared up to 200 times each”. Successful models for prison programmes exist in Europe and could go a long way to stemming infection rates - especially as most drug offenders serve fairly short sentences and are then back in the community potentially infecting others. NSPs in the prison system are a must. Yet states, territories and the Federal Government refuse to budge on the issue. In doing so, as Loveday argues, “They are putting lives at risk”.

Advertisement

At the Commonwealth level, the law enforcement approach seems entrenched. The National Drug Strategic Framework for 2004-9 doesn’t recognise addressing Hepatitis C as a priority or objective of the strategy.

Madden describes the current government as, “Very uncompassionate. They are hard, they are very mean and they don’t seem to have much regard for people who use drugs as human beings.” This “creates a real sense of vulnerability”. Drug users are “being made to feel that they’re very lucky to get anything they get”. The one hope she has is that the Howard Government’s approach has made some people wake up to what is going on. She has seen “A larger proportion of the community starting to be a bit more vocal on these issues, saying ‘This is not a compassionate approach’”. People are starting to realise, “This is not okay. This is kicking people when they’re down.”

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. Page 2
  4. All

This is an edited version of an article originally published in SPINACH7 Magazine, No. 4, Winter 2004. It was edited by Eve Vincent.



Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Esther Singer is a community development worker in the mental health sector.

Article Tools
Comment Comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy