Drug policy sacrificed on the altar of narrow-mindedness

A sobering lesson from convening the first panoptic Australasian Amphetamines Conference in 2006 is the clarity of vision that the police have on their side in relation to drugs. They want to stop more drugs entering Australia and seeming they would need to search every piece of cargo and humanity that crosses our border they have a big job. But some dealers move on and they are now using submarines! Australia’s police teams are engaged in harm minimisation programs as they appreciate the long-term benefits of the strategy.

The problem for the health sector is that there is an endless complexity to humanity that requires attention. We need politicians willing to concentrate on the real issues, and seriously engage with this complexity instead of serving up narrow-minded reports.

At our recent Mental Health and Illegal Drugs Conference, attended by more than 400 harm reduction workers from across Australia, there was a thematic thread to the sessions: stick with the evidence and lead with compassion. I wish Ms Bishop could have been at this conference; maybe her opinion and the resulting recommendations would have been more balanced and founded.

With an eye for the future, we know that cooler heads will prevail and the evidence based results of current policy will stand the test of this latest diatribe and we can all get on with doing the jobs that we are internationally recognised at being the best at doing.