Page 3480 - Week 10 - Thursday, 20 October 2022
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pertain to the inherent nature of a substance and the way it acts upon your mind and body. These risks necessitate care.
The dependencies that people can develop from drug use can cause great pain and, as people responsible for the provision of care at a government level, we need to create environments in which those that experience this pain can seek help and treatment for their dependencies.
Over the last 20 months, I have spoken at length in this Assembly about the serious impact of criminalisation on people who use drugs and those who care for them. I have recounted my personal story and I have shared the stories of others whose families have been greatly impacted by criminalisation. Rather than recounting these pains, today I just wish to give my heartfelt thank you to those who have shared their stories with me and with my team—stories that highlight the ongoing traumas of the criminal justice system that highlight the intersection between emotional distress and drug use and those that have recounted the meaning of drug use to their sense of self and community.
It is my understanding that my substantive amendments will not be supported by our governing partners in the ACT Labor Party, making a distinct and meaningful difference in our approach to this policy area. It is my genuine hope that these amendments are considered in the next iteration of this reform. They lay out a sensible, evidence-based and compassionate approach to drug use that I have little doubt will one day, hopefully soon, be law here in the ACT.
However, before I talk about why we have come to the position we have in each of these amendments, I again would thank the minister, Michael Pettersson, ACT Health and the Parliamentary Council’s Office, whose work alongside the community has brought us to this position.
While it is our belief that this legislation would have been approved through genuine consultation and development with our office and our party, what it represents is a genuine interest in the experience of people who use drugs in the ACT. We have had a very meaningful and robust debate about drug use, and there is no doubt that the discussions we have had in the chamber will influence reforms in other jurisdictions. What happens in the ACT is often a jumping off point for these jurisdictions. I hope that, in the formation of their policies and legislative approaches, these jurisdictions choose to enact more progressive and evidence-led reforms without falling to the same usual trappings of moralism and conservatism on this issue.
These amendments seek to effectively decriminalise the possession of drugs by creating an exemption for all adults to the offence of possessing drugs for personal use. In effect, any adult who is found to be in possession of a drug of dependence cannot be prosecuted for their possession of that drug. This provides a clear alternative to the government’s position of retaining penalties, in the form of fines and compulsory attendance to drug treatment programs.
The exemption operates similarly to the exemption in place for the possession of cannabis. In the case of this exemption, in their initial review of the available data, the Canberra Alliance for Harm Minimisation and Advocacy found that decriminalisation
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