Ice use in Queensland - responding to the challenges

RANZCP Qld Faculty of Forensic Psychiatry & ANZAPPL Qld Branch Dinner Meeting

‘Ice’ (crystal methamphetamine) has been one of a number of alarming psychoactive drugs that has appeared in Australia. Violence and psychosis appears to be a common problem when people intoxicated with ice present to healthcare settings including hospital Emergency Departments. But the emergence of disturbing new drugs represent another indication that Australia’s policy of relying heavily on drug law enforcement is ineffective. While some consider ice to be uniquely problematic, Australia has come to accept substantial health, social and economic costs of other drugs. Reducing the health and other costs of ice should form part of a comprehensive strategy. The threshold step is redefining drugs as primarily a health and social problem, rather than a criminal justice problem, thereby enabling improved, properly funded drug treatment. Criminal sanctions for use and possession should be reduced or eliminated. Notwithstanding the difficulties of implementation, the black market should be undermined as much as possible by a legal market.

Dr Alex Wodak AM was the Director of the Alcohol and Drug Service, St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney from 1982 until he retired in 2012 and was instrumental in establishing Australia’s first needle syringe programme in 1987 (to slow the spread of HIV) and in 1999 Australia’s first medically-supervised injecting centre when both were (pre-legal). Dr Wodak was the Foundation President of the International Harm Reduction Association (1996-2004) and helped establish the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (1987), the NSW Users AIDS Association (1989) and the Australian Society of HIV Medicine (1989). Dr Wodak is a Director of Australia 21 and is the President of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation. His retirement project is drug law reform including promoting pill testing, a medicallysupervised injecting centre for Melbourne and a more sensible policy on electronic nicotine dispensing systems.