Better healthcare needed for drug decriminalisation: doctors

The Australian Medical Association ACT said decriminalisation would require additional funding for acute health services in the ACT.

AMA ACT board member Associate Professor Jeffrey Looi said the association had concerns the proposed bill "put the cart before the horse", in terms of ensuring the appropriate health services were in place.

He pointed to better care support in the emergency department, better access to acute addiction medicine and mental health services and community addiction medicine and mental health services.

"It is essential that early intervention, treatment and rehabilitation are present for a comprehensive health approach to drugs of dependence," Associate Professor Looi said.

"Furthermore, if we want to plan for more innovative models of care, it all is underpinned by adequate resourcing, staffing and infrastructure, of which presently we do not have sufficient levels.

"In this context it is essential that additional funding be required for drug and mental health-related services in the ACT.

"We will need to carefully examine how to better integrate our drug and mental health-related services with acute healthcare such as the emergency department and alternative funding models, particularly for general and primary care."

A proposed amendment to the Drugs of Dependence Act is being examined by an ACT Legislative Assembly committee.

Medical professionals appeared before the committee to give their views on the bill. Lawyers and parents of children affected by drug use have also appeared.

Under the bill, put forward by Labor backbencher Michael Pettersson, people in the ACT would not face criminal sanctions for possessing small amounts of certain drugs, such as heroin, ice and cocaine. Instead, they would be given a $100 fine.

Professor Diana Egerton-Warburton of the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine said the organisation supported decriminalisation, but issues with the bill needed to be explored.

"While emergency physicians are generally in favour of these measures, they do feel overwhelmed and they need more resources to be able to do the screening and brief intervention," Professor Egerton-Warburton said.

"We'd also like to emphasise the need for the integration of [alcohol and other drug] services both within the general practice in the ED and in the broader community and the ED does offer an opportunity to commence [those] integration services."

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The Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Association ACT strongly supports the decriminalisation bill but chief executive Dr Devin Bowles said it needed to be enhanced to ensure police are required to provide information on drug treatment with every notice handed out.

"In decriminalising drugs, the government would be pivoting from seeing drugs as primarily a criminal issue to primarily a health issue," Dr Bowles said.

"And the best way for government to convey that message to people who use drugs is to make sure that every time the police come into contact with someone who is using drugs, they get information about treatment and harm-reduction services that are available here."

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