LET'S FACE IT - HARM MINIMISATION SIMPLY ISN'T WORKING

EDITOR: I would appreciate the opportunity to respond to claims by
Brian McConnell, President of Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform
in the ACT (Letters 4/7), that my article pointing out some of the
more obvious shortcomings of needle exchange programs was somehow
"dishonest", "scare-mongering" and inaccurate.

I was careful to use only verifiable facts in the article, rather than
my opinions.

Mr McConnell and his supporters may not choose to believe them, but
their truth remains the same. Even the champion of their cause, Health
Minister Michael Moore, agrees that at least one third of the 600,000
syringes handed out each year in Canberra are not exchanged.

I disagree with Mr McConnell that the answer to discarded syringes is
a heroin shooting gallery. This latest 'weapon' in the harm
minimisation arsenal is designed to keep people chained to the misery
of their addiction. We have had harm minimisation in Canberra for over
a decade now. It does not work.

We would do well to learn the lessons of a country like Sweden that,
over the course of a decade, went from having the worst drug problem
in Europe to being the envy of the western world. Presently, around 52
per cent of Australians will use illicit drugs at least once in their
lifetime compared with just nine per cent in Sweden. More
astonishingly, Canberra alone has more heroin addicts than the whole
of the Swedish nation.

Comparatively, drug-related deaths are twice as high in Australia than
Sweden, the cumulative rate of HIV infection is more than twice as
high and only 1.2 per cent of Swedish young people (aged under 20) are
drug dependent compared with 8.2 per cent of Australians in the same
age group. How has Sweden achieved this without the 'enlightened'
approach of free needle distribution and a heroin shooting gallery?
Through a drug policy based on harm prevention.

Harm prevention has three interlinking points of attack in education,
treatment and law enforcement. Sweden does not send its convicted drug
addicts to prison, rather it commits them to detox and rehabilitation
centres. Schools are the hub for prevention with education programs
endorsing the principle of people being drug free and staying that
way.

As a city, we should seriously consider doing the same. We've been
doing things Michael Moore's way since 1989 and our drug problems have
only gotten worse.

It's time to admit that harm minimisation just doesn't work and
instead try a genuine and proven solution.

Paul Osborne MLA Independent for Brindabella