HARM MINIMISATION THE ONLY WAY

AT the first Australasian Amphetamine Conference at Darling Harbour
yesterday, delegates were asked to accept an over-riding message -
that harm minimisation is the best, probably even the only, workable
approach to the problem of illegal drug use.

While harm minimisation proponents asserted that harm reduction
strategies include measures to disrupt the supply of illegal drugs
and strategies to discourage the use of such drugs, the underlying
message was constant: the principle focus of policy in the realm of
illegal drug use ought to be on making sure users are as at little
risk as possible.

Which is a motherhood statement. No-one would suggest that the health
risks addicted drug users are exposed to should be disregarded.

But the fundamental problem with the harm reduction approach is that
it tends to skate past the real issue - which is that drugs such as
illegal amphetamines are a chronic social blight which we should be
doing our upmost to oppose.

So our primary focus ought to be on ridding the community of the
potentially fatal menace of illegal drugs, rather than on protecting
addicts against themselves.

For here is an inescapable reality - the use of illegal drugs is a
choice. No-one is obliged to consume methamphetamine, no more than
they are compelled to inject heroin or smoke cannabis. So there is an
ethical dimension to the issue which should not be de-emphasised.

And let's not suggest inferentially that illegal drug use is
acceptable because it is inevitable. For in fact, it is neither.

As a result of determined police campaigns here and abroad, heroin is
now in short supply - with the consequence that heroin overdoses have
diminished almost to zero. That is unalloyed good news.

Plainly, addiction is not to be trivialised and it is simplistic to
suggest addicts should "just quit".

They need help and support, which should be provided - to those who
are willing to be helped.

But we ensure the most important message remains undiluted - choosing
to take illegal drugs in the first place is the root of the problem.
Doing all in our power to discourage people from such a disastrous
choice, and all we can to make illegal drugs unavailable, ought to be
our primary focus.

BELOVED of crime authors, the image of "the thin blue line" is
frequently pressed into service to convey the fragility of civilised
society, and the narrow barrier which protects us again the
ever-present threat of anarchy.

Drawn, of course, from the idea of police officers linked in a
protective line, the poetic image is often the reality rather than a
mere metaphor for serving police officers.

For the dangers are real and constant. Every day policemen and women
go on duty in the knowledge that they could be called upon to
confront life-threatening danger. They accept that obligation, even
against the certain knowledge that some will be lost in their
life-and death calling.

And today on Police Remembrance Day, which is also St Michael's Day -
thankful for the brave band of men and women who are willing to
protect and keep us - we acknowledge the debt we owe.

In doing so we remember officers such as Constable Joseph Luker of
the Sydney Foot Police, stabbed to death in the line of duty on
August 23, 1803 - the first officer to so die in service in NSW.

And we remember in our own time officers such as brave Glenn
McEnallay, who was shot in 2002; Constable David Carty, who was
stabbed in 1997, and Constable Peter Forsyth who was killed in 1998.

Since the formation of the NSW Police in 1862, 246 officers have lost
their lives on duty. And what we owe them can never be repaid - but
on this day we offer heartfelt thanks to a true band of heroes.