NSW Drug Summit post mortem

Committed proponents of harm minimisation and of abstinence programs conceded to each other that we agreed about the overwhelming number of issues before us and that in our everyday work we engaged in more common strategies than we were admitting to in the heat of debate.

There were key moments in the debate. When Annie Maddern, co-ordinator of the NSW Users and AIDS Association, spoke on the second day she confronted the Summit with the humanity of her constituency. In HIV we have known and have mostly won the argument in public that discrimination is a killer. We have achieved high levels of government support for programs and strategies which speak to gay men in their own language and images because to do otherwise, to moralise and discriminate, will not be effective in changing risk behaviours.

Annie put it squarely before delegates. A war on drugs is actually a war on drug users. It is not fair to insist that users stop using when for two thirds of people who want access there simply is no program. Discrimination against users directly leads to self destructive secrecy and to people not seeking help. To say that abstinence is the only acceptable outcome is to devalue the lives of users and to ignore the importance of their health, now or when they are ready to get off.

She urged us to focus on the goals of, "stabilising health, getting a job, entering education, reducing or stopping criminal activity, increasing your personal ability to have open and meaningful relationships with families, friends and partners and a general improvement in the quality of life."

Other influential speakers included an ambulance driver who graphically outlined the dangers he faced at work as he tried to revive overdose victims in back lanes and abandoned buildings. Also Dr Ingrid van Beek, Director of the Kirkton Road Centre in Kings Cross, who throughout the summit calmly and intelligently presented facts and research to support her case for a combination of primary care services for users (including supervised injecting facilities), responsible community policing and local community drug action teams to bring together on one side all the players who so often get lost in conflict.

On Wednesday delegates went off for a half day of site visits, again a process which many of us had been very cynical about. The impact of these was again to break down people’s fixed positions.

On Thursday John Ryan MP, a conservative Liberal member of parliament rose to give his set piece. He started, "This is the speech I came here to give (putting it to one side.) This is the speech I am giving because I have learned." He continued to oppose the repeal of the offence of self administration, despite our arguments that this little used law in fact inhibits users accessing needle and syringe programs and leads directly to unsafe disposal of used equipment. But then he went on to declare that he could not, as a committed Christian, maintain his opposition to programs aimed at saving lives and showing compassion, such as properly supervised injecting facilities.

The crunch time of the week was Thursday night when the working groups put their draft resolutions to the floor for debate and then to a ‘conscience’ vote where politicians were not bound by party policy. From this process a communiqué would be drafted to be put to a final vote that encompassed all the resolutions of the working group and would influence the future of drug policy in this State.

It became clear at this time that the Summit would vote with cross party support for a comprehensive approach encompassing harm minimisation principles and programs and a much needed boost to treatment services, as well as a balanced approach to law reform, policing strategies and prevention education.

As we had expected there was almost unanimous support for improving the variety and number of treatment services and programs and community and education programs also received overwhelming support.

The very contentious and hotly debated issue of introducing injecting rooms was overwhelmingly passed with the qualifications that they be supervised by health personnel and only established in areas with community support.

The possession of small amounts of marijuana and other drugs for personal use was to be decriminalised and self administration and paraphernalia offences repealed.