SAVING LIVES THE REAL ISSUE

'It is appalling to see overdoses in public places'

Head of the State Government's drug policy review, Professor DAVID
PENINGTON replies to Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt

ANDREW Bolt seems to dismiss the Drug Expert Committee Report as part of a
personal dispute between him and me dating from August 1999.

The report is from a committee appointed in November 1999. It is to do with
saving lives and protecting Victoria from the heroin "epidemic".

He refers to it as the final report, but I have to disappoint him -- it is
the report on stage one!

I urge people to review the overview that goes with the report. It sets out
the need for new ways to stop young people experimenting with addictive
drugs. We are reviewing treatment options and are advising government where
more money is needed. We are reviewing rehabilitation.

We want to consult local communities and police in the five areas where
there is so much concern about open use of illicit drugs. It is appalling
to see overdoses in public places and for children to be exposed to risk
from littering of syringes and needles.

We need to get these off the streets. One of the options is a trial of
injecting facilities, but this will only happen where there is clear
community support and where an appropriate site is found.

Support for the report has come from the Australian Medical Association,
from the Law Institute of Victoria and the Australian Law Council, from the
Bar Council, from the Faculty of Publie Health of the Royal Australasian
College of Physicians, from the Institution of Engineers of Australia, from
the Ambulance Employees Association, and from the employer body VECCI,
which has links with traders across Melbourne. Surely these views count.

Bolt urges us to follow the United States and Sweden. The US proudly boasts
that there has been a reduction in the money spent on illicit drugs. The
same report shows that the average price a gram of heroin has dropped from
$3264 in 1986 to $1799 in 1998. The price of cocaine has dropped from $291
to $169 a gram. Sound familiar?

This accounts for more than the total drop in expenditure. The US is
estimated to consume half the world total of illicit drugs. A survey of
emergency rooms in 25 cities across the US shows progressive increase in
overdose attendances. The Year 2000 Report of the National Drug Control
Strategy confirms rising deaths.

In countries where simpie possession and use of illicit drugs can lead to
mandatory sentencing, questionnaire surveys do not reveal the facts.

In Sweden, admitted use by both l5-year-olds and 20-year-olds dropped when
such penalties were introduced in 1982 but, now, despite the penalties,
admitted use is approaching that of the 1970s.

The Swedish Drug Commission gave us figures showing fast-mounting deaths
from drugs when we visited it.

Four weeks ago we met with the Frankfurt legal officers who set up the
strategies to get the drugs off the streets in 1990, based on "harm
reduction". They dramatically reduced the death toll.

Initially, informal injecting arrangements were condoned in
"high-tolerance" cafes and in the bathing area of a facility for homeless
people.

Formal injecting facilities were opened in 1994 and the death toll has
continued to fall.

Methadone was also made available, but is more restricted than in Victoria.

Police were important partners in the whole approach, as in Switzerland,
and are strong supporters.

City authorities say many lives are saved with the injecting facilities --
these have no deaths.

Germany has now adopted national legislation for them. Swiss authorities
say their total drug deaths fell from 419 in 1992 to 209 in 1998.

No country has a simple answer. We have to be willing to try new
approaches, given that the present arrangements are falling. We need to
save lives and to get the problem off our streets.