TWO DECADES ON, AN ODYSSEY BARELY BEGUN

I read "Addicts die in grip of red tape" (The Age, 19/7)with a sense of
despair, when the chief executive officer of Odyssey House stated that drug
addicts were dying while bureaucratic delays meant the Victorian Government
failed to deliver on its commitment to provide more residential
drug-treatment beds.

He went on to say that the government had told the agency more than 12
months ago that treatment beds were a priority and would be funded.

He said there were fewer than 120 specialist treatment beds in Victoria, but
the number needed to be doubled.

I worked for the Odyssey House program from 1982 to 1995, and during that
time there were 150 beds available in that facility alone - sanctioned by
the Health Department of Victoria. On occasion in the late 1980s there were
as many as 170 people resident at Odyssey undergoing long-term treatment.

But here we are, many years later in the year 2000, with the drug problem
grown considerably larger than in the 1980s and a substantially lesser
number of beds funded at Odyssey (for what used to be and possibly still is
the largest drug rehabilitation centre in Victoria - and with a fine
reputation).

There is no doubt that a substantial decline in treatment facilities has
occurred, despite the growing number of deaths and the empty promises of
politicians.

What does this say about the policies of various state governments in the
1900s? Where is the real commitment of government to tackle this problem?
Will the Bracks Government now provide sufficient funding and action -
rather than the false rhetoric we've been fed for years about the so-called
improved efficiency of our health system?

The reality is that drug addiction is growing fast in the Victorian
community, but the facilities needed to deal with it -
policing/detoxification/treatment etc. - are totally inadequate, and
apparently declining.

PETER COWDEN, Drysdale