Lyn Allison (Victoria, Australian Democrats) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship (Senator Evans) to a question without notice asked by Senator Allison today relating to drug use and abuse.

The reason for asking this question was that Australia faces a very difficult and serious situation of drug use and abuse in this country. My question went to whether this government will do what the last government refused to do, and that is to look at the current way in which drug policy is formulated and to examine its effectiveness.

We know that enormous amounts of money have been spent on trying to stop drugs from coming into this country. But we also know that a mere 13 per cent of drugs have been apprehended. This suggests that we need to look at an alternative solution to this very serious problem. We have a black market in illicit drugs which is more profitable than it ever was. Eighty per cent of those who are in jail are there for drug related reasons, and the vast majority of those people are users. They might be small-time peddlers, but they are not the people who are responsible for this enormous industry which exists in our country and survives on the misery of those who become addicted to these substances, particularly to heroin.

We also know that a dollar spent on treatment is seven times more effective in reducing the very huge cost to society, business, government, hospitals and health services across the country. So I urge this government to think very seriously about how, in the next few months, Afghanistan’s huge increase in the production of heroin will be coming here. It is not just coming; it is already here in some respects. We know that from the police and ambulance reports that tell us that the rates of overdose are climbing steadily. That can mean only one thing: heroin is available here, it is of a very high level of purity and it is being consumed by Australians as we speak.

I was interested to come across a couple of articles on this subject just in the last couple of days. The articles suggest that—apart from harm minimisation, which would not lock up so many people in prison—one option to deal with Afghanistan’s 8,200 tonnes of expected crop this year would be to include Afghanistan in the legal production of opium poppies. Tasmania produces opium. It does so under a legal framework. It seems ludicrous to me to burn and cut down a crop which is obviously benefiting Afghani farmers. We know that in doing that we hand such farmers over to the influence of the Taliban and the al-Qaeda insurgency. An article that came across my desk said:

To the extent they burn and spray poppy fields, international and Afghan Government forces are no doubt pushing the ethnic Pashtuns of southern Afghanistan closer to the Taliban (even though the Talibs banned opium when they were the government).

That we would imagine that people would willingly give up a cash crop, which is so valuable to them in such a poor country, in order to protect our citizens from the opium and heroin which is produced by those crops is absurd.

At the international level, I urge this government to look very carefully at what might be done to make sure that this heroin does not make it to Australia in large quantities, as is expected. For that which does arrive here—and we will never stop it—I agree with Senator Evans that there is a need for measures to be taken, including law enforcement. But it is a question of emphasis. If all of our money goes into stopping heroin from coming to this country, we will not be successful.

As I tried to point out, there are addicts all around this country who, for want of access to drying-out facilities and rehabilitation and treatment services, are continuing to abuse heroin. Addiction is a very difficult condition to have. You cannot say to an addict, ‘Stop taking it. Don’t take it in the first place. Just stop now; it will all be okay’, because, as we know, addiction to such a substance is a lifetime one. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.