Heroin
in
Australia:
A
Conversation
with
Brian
McConnell
of
Families
and
Friends
for
Drug
Law
Reform
4/24/99
An escalating heroin problem and an attendant rise in overdose deaths have put the drug policy debate center stage in Australia. Alongside tragic stories of young, and increasingly rural people dead from overdoses, the Australian newspapers are filled with angry and frustrated letters to the editors, editorials and political opinions about the right course of action. Last year, a move by public health officials to implement a heroin prescription experiment similar to Switzerland's made it as far as the first trial phase before it was quashed by Prime Minister John Howard, after US State Department officials reportedly threatened to close down Tasmania's pharmaceutical opiate industry in retaliation. Earlier this year, Mr. Howard invited FBI head Louis Freeh to Australia to make the case for American-style zero tolerance drug policies. But harm reduction advocates say the battle is far from lost, and point to a range of innovative programs springing up in states and territories across the country. In Queensland, for example, clinical trials are underway for Naltrexone, an opiate-receptor blocking drug that has enjoyed some success in Europe. In New South Wales, a small drug court is in the first stages of a scientific study. In several states, first time drug offenders are now given the option of treatment instead of jail. And Michael Moore, Health Minister for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has waged a very public battle with Prime Minister Howard to re-launch the heroin prescription program, and to set up "safe injection rooms" where addicts can find clean needles, access to health care and counseling, and learn about treatment options. To get a better grasp of these developments, the Week Online spoke with Moore and with Brian McConnell, president and a founding member of Family and Friends for Drug Law Reform (FFDLR). This week we present our conversation with Mr. McConnell, who became involved with drug law reform after his son died of a heroin overdose. WOL: How has the tenor of the drug policy debate in Australia changed over the past few years? MCCONNELL: When Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform was formed in 1995, there was virtually no discussion of heroin as a problem. But since that time, people are more concerned about the overdose deaths. In Victoria, they have a very good system from the coroner's records of the overdose deaths, and they can tally the number of deaths very quickly, so you don't have to wait a year or two before you get the results. One of the newspapers in Victoria is running a tally of overdose deaths to road deaths, and right now they are running neck in neck. And the debate is now more robust. People are putting forward more thoughtful suggestions for how it might be dealt with. Around the time the Premieres' conference was going on [a national conference of state and territorial leaders, at which heroin policy was a hot topic this year], for that weekend and Monday papers, we had a hundred and twenty-four pages of clippings about heroin trials from newspapers from around Australia. WOL: What influence has the US had on drug policy? MCCONNELL: By and large we seem to be tied to US policies, and I think that is largely due to our Prime Minister. Rather than call on experts that have some evidence with success, he called on the FBI for advice on what to do. Now, to say the least, that's curious. There is no evidence that the FBI has done anything that's been successful in this area. He is also keen on the zero tolerance in New York and was keen on it with no facts, no figures. And zero tolerance is a city jurisdiction and not the FBI's, so that's curious as well. WOL: What can be done by the federal Commonwealth government in terms of legislation? MCCONNELL: Drug issues are basically a state responsibility -- outside of customs and border patrol type activities. It is the customs end of it that is preventing a heroin trial from taking place. But a lot of work can be done without touching the legislation, much of it in the policy area. Here in the ACT, my son's death is directly attributable to the police being involved when he first overdosed. The paramedics and police took him to hospital. When he awoke the police were at the end of his bed. He was frightened and discharged himself and went on a hurried holiday. Two weeks later he was dead. The police in the ACT and in many other states don't chase ambulances for overdoses anymore, unless there is another reason. That puts it clearly in the health arena. WOL: Where does public opinion stand on heroin trials? MCCONNELL: In the ACT, support for heroin trials is marginally over fifty percent, with four to six percent undecided, and its been that way for awhile now. What has changed is the opinion in the rest of Australia. Back in 1996, those in favor nationally were at about thirty-five percent, but it has now gone up to forty six percent. In Victoria, a state where the Premiere and his government are supportive of a trial and where there has been positive press, the percentage in favor has exceeded fifty percent. WOL: What has changed people's minds? MCCONNELL: What has turned some public opinion around is when people like myself and others have come out and said my son or daughter died of a heroin overdose, and they didn't have two heads, they weren't living in the gutter. They were intelligent and well educated and had a job and all those sorts of things. Here we are as a family and we are trying to do something about it and we would like to prevent this from happening in the future. It's a turnaround in the debate and in some people's minds. But it's still not far enough to do something. We are only in the debate stage. We've got some action happening because we are researching other treatment options. We're certainly not as progressive as European countries because there is still a stigma and a marginalization for drug users here. A lot of the calls for changes to the drug laws and the ways policies are administered are coming from the police. The politicians are the last ones to come along. (Visit Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform on the web at http://www.adca.org.au/ffdlr/. Next week, our conversation with ACT Health Minister Michael Moore.)
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