Decriminalisation, regulated cannabis trials, more pill testing: Peak medical body’s demands for drug policy reform
Drug decriminalisation, regulated cannabis trials, more pill testing and syringe programs are on the list of health reforms demanded by Australia’s largest specialist medical society.
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) is the collective voice of more than 30,000 specialists across Australia and New Zealand, from 33 different specialties including addiction medicine, public health, and general medicine.
By other professionals in the sector, the RACP is considered elite, conservative, and influential.
The RACP disclosed its new position statement exclusively to 7.30 ahead of the concluding sessions of the NSW Drug Summit in Sydney. Its previous Illicit Drugs Policy is almost 20 years old.
“We think it’s time we have a whole of society discussion about where we want to be in this area, and where we actually want to put our funds to prevent people from getting into those cycles of ill health, and popping in and out of institutions and incarceration,” RACP President Dr Jennifer Martin told 7.30.
Professor Jennifer Martin is the president of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. (Supplied: University of Newcastle)
The society’s position statement will act as a framework to lobby governments and organisations across Australia, outlining the ‘rationale and evidence for a health-focused approach to inform policy development’.
It focuses on drugs which have been classified as illicit in most jurisdictions.
“These include cannabis, heroin and other illicit opioids, cocaine, amphetamine-type stimulants, other illicit stimulants, non-prescribed sedative drugs, hallucinogens and empathogens and some prescription medicines obtained illicitly,” Dr Martin said.
The RACP outlined 17 calls to action under the banner of harm reduction.
They include ‘further steps to decriminalise the use of drugs and possession for personal use’ across drug classes, communities; establishing trials of regulated cannabis markets; expanding drug checking services and pill testing trials; more free syringe programs and medically supervised injecting centres.
“Importantly, we recognise that both the use of drugs and our government’s response to the use of drugs can cause harm and that stigma surrounding drug use can have profound and far-reaching consequences for individuals who use drugs,” the position paper reads.
‘Won’t be going down that path’
While a spokesperson for Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said the measures are “matters for state and territory governments”, the NSW Minns government has already struck down one of the RACP’s key policies.
“The premier’s made some things clear around decriminalisation, that we probably wouldn’t be going down that path per se,” NSW Health Minister Ryan Park told 7.30.
“What we’ll be doing is working out how we can do things better. Can we improve what we’re already doing? And then what are the opportunities to do things in a more collective way going forward.”
NSW Health Minister Ryan park doesn’t believe the state government will try decriminlisation. (ABC News: Keana Naughton)
It’s not the first time decriminalisation has been flatly rejected. It was also a key recommendation of the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry into the Drug Ice, in 2018.
Dan Howard was the Commissioner of the Inquiry, and told 7.30 “it’s just madness to leave the policies as they are.”
“I recommended a diversion scheme as a fallback, if the government didn’t have the courage to decriminalise simple use and possession,” he said.
“The scheme that was introduced is not the one I recommended.”
Dan Howard was the Commissioner of the 2018 Ice Inquiry. (ABC News: Tom Hartley)
NSW has been trialling a two-strike diversion scheme (EDDI) since February.
It offers first and second time drug offenders the chance to pay a $400 fine or have a phone call with a health professional, instead of going before a magistrate.
Police have discretion over every matter but can’t offer diversion to people who have a drug criminal history or have concurrently committed other drug offences.
Claims diversion is perverse and secretive
Alison Ritter’s team at the UNSW Drug Policy Modelling Hub has been scrutinising the diversion scheme’s efficacy.
Out of the 6,332 minor drug charges issued between February and August, only 6.4 per cent were diverted. And while the average for a non-Indigenous person is 7 per cent, the average for Indigenous persons is 2 per cent — a figure Professor Ritter described as “appalling”.
“We don’t know what we can assign to police operation and how much is the design of the program,” Professor Ritter told 7.30.
“I think what’s important is that we don’t understand why the rates are so low, but without evidence of why those rates are so significantly different, it certainly doesn’t protect police from the argument that they are racist.”
Western District Commander, Assistant Commissioner Andrew Holland was asked whether those claims held weight.
He told 7.30 that while he “can’t talk about statistics” he would like to see more people kept out of custody but his officers are bound by the law’s strict parameters.
Assistant Commissioner Andrew Holland says police want to try and keep people out of custody. (ABC News: Richard Mockler)
“A lot of the times when the diversion is available, there’s other offences involved, so the police don’t have that discretion. We would like to keep people out of custody as much as we possibly can,” Assistant Commissioner Holland said.
He added that there may be situations where an officer could have diverted and didn’t.
“I’m not saying that doesn’t happen, but you need to know the understanding, the mindset of the officer involved, and you would have to go into an individual caseload to understand that,” he said.
Alison Ritter has concerns over the NSW government’s drug diversion scheme. (ABC News: Richard Mockler)
Mr Howard argued the low diversion rates translate to a “failure of policy.”
“I’ve got huge respect for the police force — they do great work — but on this one they’re not being given the right impetus or direction from above, it’s meaningless in terms of law reform,” he told 7.30.
One of Professor Ritter’s biggest concerns is the “secretive” way in which the diversion scheme has been rolled out and how data is being captured.
Police have full discretion over every matter relating to the diversion scheme. (ABC News: Richard Mockler)
“It’s been quite secretive and very difficult to analyse,” Professor Ritter told her working group.
“The other irony is the people who most likely need to be diverted are the people who are injecting heroin; at great risk, and those who are marginalised.
“The scheme is set up to privilege the people who are least likely to need an education intervention — it’s perverse almost — benefiting the wrong people in a sense.”
NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley told 7.30 the state government will review the scheme after 12 months of operation.
“Any changes to current government policy will be considered as part of the drug summit,” Ms Catley said.
Watch 7.30, Mondays to Thursdays 7:30pm on ABC iview and ABC TV
