Australia's drug policy - on the street to nowhere

On the Gold Coast, one centre offers residential rehabilitation programs for young drug addicts but there is a waiting list that can extend for months. The Sunshine Coast and the rest of Queensland are simply not catered for.

According to Bob Aldred, chief executive officer of Queensland's Drug and Alcohol Foundation, there are 85,000 amphetamine users in Queensland and at least 17,000 heroin takers. Though no one knows the exact figure, thousands of these drug takers are children or adolescents.

Secure residential programs are essential for these young drug users trying to overcome psychological and often family problems that are related to their drug habits.

Without these programs – or the political will that would allow the authorities to place young drug users into them – the problem is dumped on to the justice system.

Official Queensland statistics show the number of young people receiving attendance notices or summons to appear before court has risen dramatically in recent years. Drug use is undoubtedly one of the reasons for this increase.

But juvenile courts offer little in the way of sentences that involve adequate drug treatment programs. Instead, juvenile courts tend to stigmatise young drug users as "delinquents", thereby driving them further into a drug culture.

Without adequate long-term residential treatment programs our national youth anti-drug policy will quickly turn into a national disgrace – despite the huge amounts of money spent on glossy pamphlets and television advertisements.