The NSW Drug Summit is here!
Holding a Drug Summit during its first term was an election promise made by the current NSW government before it was elected in March last year. Now it is delivering a November 1 forum in Griffith. This is the first of a series of regional and urban sessions where the government will hear from “health experts, police, people with lived and living experiences, drug user organisations, families and other stakeholders to provide a range of perspectives.”
Other forums will be held in Lismore on November 4 and Sydney on December 4-5.
NUAA, the organisation that publishes Users News, welcomes this. We are participating and encourage others to participate by completeing the government’s anonymous online survey to let them know what is important to you, if you are someone who uses or has used illicit drugs.
Of course, it would be unrealistic to think that we can get all the changes to policy and law that our community identifies as needed just by asking — or even by putting a well-reasoned evidence-based argument. Other stakeholders are likely to see things quite differently to how we do, and the final decision about what policy changes and law reform, if any, should be made will be for the government to take. But the more our voices are heard, the better the outcome is likely to be.
NUAA will be involved in directly putting forward its own perspectives as an organisation. We have also helped people with lived and living experience (LLE) of drug use enrol as Summit participants. NUAA will also assist LLE participants by having a support person available in attendance at each session of the Summit itself, and hosting webinars on ‘Safe and Purposeful Disclosure’ to help LLE participants prepare for the Summit.
The perspective that NUAA as an organisation is taking to the Summit is outlined in detail in a position paper published in August. This document explains the rationale for NUAA’s perspective saying:
“While NUAA acknowledges that community consultation and consensus building is necessary for significant reform we urge the Government to respect the work of many dedicated people, including people with lived and living experience, that has already been completed.
“We acknowledge the overwhelming frustration of community members who have tirelessly and at a personal cost contributed to each of the previous Inquiries. Often, people with lived or living experience and their loved ones are called upon to publicly talk about the single most painful experiences of their lives. We must respect their input and courage with an equal commitment to enacting real change.
“We are urging the Government to present no further delays to an evidence-informed, whole of Government Alcohol and Other Drugs Strategy. The harms caused by criminalisation, prohibitive policies, over policing and systemic stigma and discrimination must be addressed through community partnerships and must involve every agency that touches the lives of people who use drugs in NSW including Police, Housing, Community Services, Corrective Services and Health.
“NUAA’s long record of successful collaboration demonstrates what can be achieved when we work together, and we will continue to work as a key partner in any reform that results from this Summit.”
The document also reflects NUAA’s long standing calls for the implementation of the recommendations of the “Special Commission of Inquiry (SCI) into crystal methamphetamine and other amphetamine-type stimulants” released in January 2020, saying:
“The Government agreed to the majority of the of recommendations and partially funded their implementation. However, recommendations relating to increased and visible harm reduction services including removal of the prohibition of ice pipes, provision of additional drug consumption services, drug checking services and NSP in prison were not supported. Likewise, recommendations related to policing practices such ending the use of strip searches and drug detection dogs were not supported.”
What is NUAA proposing at the Summit?
NUAA’s position paper identifies 9 points that need to be addressed by the Drug Summit
1. Commit to and fund evidence-based harm reduction services
NUAA supports the implementation of the recommendations of the SCI including:
Provision of sterile injecting equipment in correctional settings. Hepatitis C transmission in prison is a significant roadblock in our aim of achieving elimination by 2028.
Publicly accessible, co-designed drug checking services. NSW has an excellent, collaborative system of drug alerts in place. This service would be enhanced by making substance testing available to members of the public through drug checking services, including in music festival settings.
Expanding access to take home naloxone, including routinely incorporating overdose prevention in First Aid training, expanding access to naloxone through peer distribution and NSW Police carrying naloxone (as is already the case in WA and Queensland.
Increased access to safe consumption sites.
Recommendations:
Increase the focus on harm reduction and establish and fund an agency that can work across the health system to allow focus on preventable harms from AOD use.
Implement initiatives recommended by the SCI including provision of injecting equipment in correctional settings, drug checking and expanding access to take home naloxone.
2. Reform NSW Police practices
NUAA has identified 2 areas of policing reform that need urgent attention: discretionary powers and the use of drug dogs and strip searching.
The NSW Early Drug Diversion Initiative (‘EDDI’), introduced in February 2024, allows for people found with personal use quantities of illicit drugs to be diverted from the criminal justice system, but allowing police discretionary powers means that its implementation reflects and exacerbates existing inequalities. Data from the first 3 months has shown that only 8% of people found with low-level drug possession have been offered diversion.
Data from the earlier Cannabis Cautioning Scheme suggests that wealth and race influence the way police use their discretion. Data for 2000-2020 showed that non-Indigenous people were 4 times more like to just be cautioned than Indigenous people and that while only 24% of people caught with cannabis in the Upper Hunter Shire got off with a caution, 75% of those in North Sydney did.
Recommendations:
Remove discretionary powers for Police relating to policing individual drug use.
Immediately cease harmful policing practices such as drug dog operations and strip searching.
Ensure a coordinated approach between NSW Police and other branches of Government in relation to harm reduction and harm minimisation.
3. Make a genuine commitment to reducing the stigma people experience when accessing health services.
Recommendations:
NSW invest in a community wide, co-designed project aimed at reducing stigma and discrimination.
NSW expand anti-discrimination protections through the adoption of a Human Rights Charter that protects all individuals from degrading treatment.
4. Support the entry of people with Lived and Living Experience into the workforce and support development of the LLE Workforce
Recommendations:
NSW adequately fund training and development of the Lived and Living Experience workforce.
NSW Fund NUAA as a peak body representing LLEW workers.
5. Decriminalise the possession and personal use of illicit drugs to end the criminalisation of people who use drugs
NUAA calls for complete decriminalisation of the personal possession and use of all illicit substances (including Performance and Image Enhancing Drugs) as a necessary step towards ending the criminalisation of people who use drugs and tackling the endemic stigma and discrimination we experience.
6. Adequately fund holistic drug treatment services
Funding for community-based service providers and organisations needs to keep pace with rising costs. More priority needs to be given to specialised services for people who face barriers to treatment, e.g. First Nations, multicultural, gender and sexuality diverse communities, people in criminal justice settings and people in rural and regional locations.
7. Prioritise First Nations led AOD service delivery, advocacy and policy reform and adequately fund culturally appropriate care in mainstream services
About 20% or more of clients of AOD services identify as Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander. NUAA supports the calls for adequate investment and resourcing into Aboriginal Community Controlled AOD service delivery and advocacy, the growth of a First Nations AOD peer organisation and workforce and increased delivery of culturally safe AOD services inclusive of mainstream services NSW wide.
8. Regulate cannabis supply and cannabis law reform
NUAA support calls for the legalisation and regulation of the personal possession and use of cannabis and extinguishing of past cannabis convictions. Any regulatory model should be informed by meaningful engagement with people who use cannabis.
9. Reform to Roadside Drug Testing to test for impairment instead of presence
NUAA supports national calls for reform to state-based roadside drug testing (RDT) practices to test for impairment instead of presence. Tasmania already has a medical exemption for medicinal cannabis patients.