
Issue No 13		14 May 1999

News

Labor Council Backs Harm Minimisation

The NSW Labor Council has called for governments to focus on harm minimisation and ensure there are adequate resources for drug users who want rehabilitation.

"It's easier to get a cap of heroin than it is to get a place in a treatment program," the Council was told.

Delegates to the Council's special Drug Policy Forum heard expert speakers and parents of drug users outline a crisis where heroin users who want to kick the habit can not get into rehabilitation programs. They also heard how drug abuse was affecting jobs across the spectrum from teachers to nurses, blue collar to white collar.

"There is no one problem and there is no one solution," Labor Council secretary Michael Costa said later. "It's not a simple choice between legalisation and prohibition and we need to avoid polarising the debate."

In a first for the state's peak union body, the entire weekly meeting was handed over to a debate on the drugs issue ahead of next week's State Parliament Drug Summit. Delegates heard a detailed and at times emotional outline of the major arguments from key players in the debate including:

Dr Alex Wodak of St Vincents Hospital, who argued the policy of bigger penalties and more prisons were not working and that the current crime-based approach to drugs was actually fuelling the drug trade. Dr Wodak compared the increasing numbers of heroin deaths in Australia to Switzerland, where heroin trials and safe injecting rooms had seen deaths halve in the past six years. He argued that we must look at drugs as a health problem and increase spending in this area because "we can't turn the whole of NSW into a prison". He advocates replacing criminal sanctions for personal drug use and the taxing of the cannibis market to help fund harm minimisation programs; safe injecting rooms, needle exchange programs and heroin trials.

Ltnt Paul Moulds from the Salvation Army, spoke of his experience with drug addicts. Arguing strongly that more can be done to rehabilitate, he said he was unconvinced that safe injecting rooms, heroin trials and decriminalisation were the way to go. "They may well prevent some deaths, but the cost to the community would be enormous. He said legalising drugs would mean they were looked at in a different way and that the law needed to send a strong message the society. With only two youth detoxification clinics in Sydney, he argued that more resources were needed to help those who want to get off drugs do so

Louise Tanner and Elly Inta from the Family Drug Support Network spoke of their personal experiences as parents of heroin uses. Lousie spoke of how her daughter died of an overdose, despite 12 months efforts to kick the habit. She said lack of support and education about addiction was telling: "if I knew then what I know now, I honestly believe that my baby would still be alive." Elly talked of watching her son become a user, then a dealer, then finally going clean. Both parents strongly back Dr Wodak's plans and were involved in the establishment of the Wayside Chapel's safe injecting room.

Following the speakers, the Council endorsed a resolution which stated: "The Labor Council believes that the Occupoational health and Safety issues are best dealt with by a set of strategies that minimise the harm caused to workers and their families by drug abuse."

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  Issue 13 contents

Interview: Really Caring
Sam Moait will be sending a message from the 48,000 nurses who she represents when she takes her seat at the Drug Summit

Unions: Kicking the Habit
The architect of a trade union drug and alcohol program has revealed his own battle with drugs motivated him to help other workers kick the habit.

History: Remembering BHP: Memory and Industrial Heritage
The announcement of the intended closure of BHP�s Newcastle steelworks heightened the awareness that industrial heritage is more than derelict sites of production.

Review: Ten Songs to Revolution
We ask Labor Council's resident music critic to name the ten songs that define the nineties.

International: Union Lifts Lid on Rio Tinto Shame File
The global campaign against mining giant Rio Tinto has been stepped up with a new report alleging abuses of human rights, environmental and safety standards.

» Unions Warn Carr: Bosses Can�t Veto Second Wave

» Labor Council Backs Harm Minimisation

» Aquilina Urged to Talk as Students Offered Teaching Jobs

» Cutting Through the Budget Crap

» LHMU Demands Y2K Protection for Workers

» Cops Eye Airport Beat

» Spanish Workers Warned on Tax Agents

» Unions to March on Journey of Healing on May 26

» NSW Young Labor Turns 50!