Those Ministers for Health who voted down the ACT heroin trial last week are certainly not leaders. They are not even followers of public opinion, for a majority of people are in favour of it. Rather they are slaves to a body of ill-informed or scare-mongering opinion. The NSW Minister, Andrew Refshauge was the weakest of the lot. He did not appear to state and justify his view. Rather he sent his top bureaucrat to recite a terse statement that NSW would only support the trial if all the other jurisdictions were in favour. That was an especially spineless piece of politics. Mr Refshauge was so nervous of public opinion that he needed the safety requirement of going with all the rest. It was also a completely brainless way to go about policy making, that can only be explained because at the mention of the word “”heroin” rationality goes out the window. Can anyone seriously imagine a state minister for anything making policy about anything along the lines: “”I’ll only do it if all other states and territories do it”? It is an abrogation of ministerial responsibility.
The Ministers from Western Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory and Queensland were also opposed, but not in the spineless way that Mr Refshauge was. They did not insist on everyone else agreeing before they agreed.
Only Victoria, South Australia and the ACT wanted to see the trial go ahead.
The trial will give some heroin addicts heroin on prescription. The trail would then see if these people can stay away from crime; stay in work and ultimately shake the habit. The theory is that in a more stable environment, without the obsession to get the money to buy the drug, these people will be more likely to be able to shake the habit. They will be able to stay away from dealers and crime. The theory is that with heroin supplied on prescription, people will know exactly what they are getting, thus reducing the chance of overdose, and reducing the chance of AIDS through sharing needles.
The trail would be run in the ACT only. That should have weighed in favour of other states agreeing, because it was not to happen in their states. But no; fear and prejudice has beaten good sense.
The ACT Minister for Health, and Chief Minister, Kate Carnell, said that the trial is now dead in the water. However, she may have exaggerated the position slightly through frustration and disappointment. The Federal Minister, Michael Wooldridge, has referred the matter to a committee to report back. So it is not dead in the water. It may be that the trial can go ahead in a year or two. The ACT cannot go it alone because it would require federal legislation and the federal government refuses to act unless a majority of states agree. Kate Carnell and others have underestimated the time it takes for the obvious to sink in: that present prohibition is not working and that new approaches are needed if we are to reduce the problem of heroin addiction.
The people in the ACT who have worked so hard for the trial should not give up yet. The length of time it takes a long time to reverse ingrained prejudice should not be under-estimated. Further, in the absence of some shocking Port Arthur-type event, it seems impossible in the 1990s to expect leadership from most politicians. Mass marketing, polling, marginal-seat targeting by noisy minorities means that most politicians will head for the safety of doing nothing. Unfortunately more work is needed to convince enough people of the failure and costs of prohibition that the balance of nervousness against upsetting voters comes down in favour of change.
Until then, of course, we will continue to see the tragedy of overdose, usually among the young. We will continue to see high rates of burglary as addicts steal to support their habit. We will continue to see users become dealers to support their habit and we will continue to see these users-turned-dealers entice others on to the drug so they can get the money to support their own habit.
In this sorry saga, though, the people of the ACT should take some pride in that we have some thoughtful politicians like Michael Moore who has worked long and hard to change society’s view on drug addiction and Kate Carnell who has acted courageously in the face of hostility or at best apathy from her own party.
The health ministers of Western Australia, Tasmania, Queensland and the Northern Territory, on the other hand, should know that their decision will be greatly appreciated by at least one group in society … the drug barons. The ministers have ensured that trade will go on as usual.