'INTEGRATED APPROACH' NEEDED

The Drug Policy Expert Committee has called for an integrated approach
between the health, legal, welfare and education sectors to illicit
drug use in Victoria.

In particular, its final report to the Victorian Government, Drugs: meeting
the challenge, calls on the State Government to play a leadership role in
new approaches to drug reform in Australia, including a heroin trial.

`The challenges facing us all from the use and misuse of drugs require
new ways of thinking, new approaches and a real commitment to change,"
committee chairman David Penington said at the report's launch yesterday.

Health Minister John Thwaites said the government would consider the
report and respond to the recommendations in the next month.

The first stage of the committee's report, released in April,
recommended supervised injecting room trials.

This second stage lists 59 recommendations under the five objectives:
prevention, criminal justice and law enforcement, getting lives back
on track, saving lives and capacity building.

The cost of implementing the reports was not in the committee's terms
of references but a funding announcement is expected when the
government responds to the report.

It calls initially for a review of state-funded programs and the
establishment of an independent statutory body to monitor and advise
on government policy.

The report targets the health and medical sectors for greater
involvement in drug treatment by encouraging more general
practitioners to take part in new drug therapy trials and to develop
treatment programs that are specific to the needs of women, the
homeless, young people, former prisoners and ethnic groups.

The State Government would lobby the Federal Government for an
increase in funding of the methadone program and the report also
recommends that the government subsidise the full cost of methadone
for addicts under 18 and adults for the first eights weeks only.

The report proposes that a team be appointed to provide support to
schools, parents and youth in drug prevention programs that can be
included in the state's curriculum.

Changes to the legal status of prostitution and the possession of
needles is recommended, which would bring Victoria into line with
other states.

The report said that responsible disposal of needles would result if
the government repealed section 75 of the Drugs, Poisons and
Controlled Substances Act and users were able to carry syringes
without fear of arrest, preventing the immediate discarding of used
syringes.

A special magistrates program to enhance specialist knowledge by
magistrates is also recommended, as is a review of the sentencing act
for drug-related offences, conditional on offenders attending drug
treatment programs.

Under the proposals, discretion could be exercised by the courts and
police in dealing with people using cannabis to manage the symptoms of
serious or terminal illnesses when there is a therapeutic effect on
the user.

The report recommended that a specialist workforce be cultivated and
supported with salary incentives and access to higher education in the
field of addiction-related studies.