Submission: The health impacts of alcohol and other drugs (AOD) in Australia

NSWCCL has, for many years, maintained that Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) use should be addressed as a health and social rather than a legal issue. It therefore advocates the transfer of powers relating to drug use from the criminal justice system to the health system.

The Council also supports the policy of harm minimisation, rather than zero tolerance, in treatment of the effects of AOD, and more equitable access to safe and appropriate AOD services, including for priority populations in the National AOD strategy such as young people, First Nations communities, people in contact with the criminal justice system, and LGBTQI+ people.

In our submission we made the following recommendations:

Recommendation 1: Increased access to medically supervised injecting centres and drug testing. Given the benefits of publicly accessible drug checking services and medically supervised injecting centres in providing harm minimisation focused AOD support, it is recommended that more of such facilities be rolled out to the public, supported through government funding and resources.

Recommendation 2: ‘De jure’ drug decriminalisation. To, inter alia, reduce unnecessary contact with the criminal justice system, which can exacerbate AOD use, trauma, homelessness and family disconnection, NSWCCL supports ‘de jure’ drug decriminalisation for possession throughout Australia. Decriminalisation reform needs to be ‘de jure’ (by the law), rather than ‘de facto’ (leaving discretion to the police in terms of when an offence should be prosecuted criminally). We recommend this, given, for instance, ‘de-facto’ decriminalisation of cannabis possession in New South Wales has yielded un-even law enforcement outcomes for communities. Notably, a recent study of NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics has found that Aboriginal peoples, people residing in Western Sydney and those residing in the Hunter area were more likely to be criminally prosecuted for their cannabis-related crimes than non-Aboriginal people or people who resided in other jurisdictions.

There is consistent evidence that decriminalisation doesn’t encourage drug use or increase drug taking in the community. In fact, decriminalisation may have the opposite effect, as more people are able to access advice, support and treatment for any problematic health issue resulting from drug use. Through the ‘de jure’ decriminalisation of possession and diverting individuals away from the justice system and into health services, Australia could reduce the burden on courts and prisons while improving outcomes for individuals.

Recommendation 3: Schools and specialist community organisations should continue to be funded and resourced to provide evidence-based, harm minimisation AOD education to school students as a standard part of schooling.

Recommendation 4: Improve AOD support in prisons across Australia. The Council recommends corrective services:
• Provide needle and syringe programs in prisons
• Improve access to Opioid Treatment Programs (OTP) for people in prison
• Ensure people in prison can access the AOD counselling they need
• Train prison staff and people in prison at risk of overdose in how to use Naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal drug. Ensure people leaving prison are provided with Naloxone upon release to address the heightened risk of overdose faced by people in the first few weeks out of prison. Such risk has been associated with people’s reduced tolerance to drugs whilst in prison.

Recommendation 5: Discontinue the use of drug dogs. Recognising the capacity of drug dogs to increase the risk of AOD related harm and prompt unnecessary involvement with the criminal justice system, the Council recommends ceasing the use of drug detection dogs as part of policing practice.

Recommendation 6: Provide better access to secure and appropriate housing to reduce AOD related harms in Australia. Further governmental work and resourcing is needed to expand housing available for people, particularly those who are low income and on welfare. Ensuring housing providers and landlords are not allowed to arbitrarily exclude people from housing purely based on their criminal records and histories of AOD dependence is also needed to ensure housing is accessible to people who have become involved in the criminal justice system for AOD related reasons.

Recommendation 7: Reduce barriers to employment for people who might have criminal justice involvement related to AOD use by minimising the requirement for criminal records checks.

Read our submission here.