Page 805 - Week 03 - Thursday, 25 March 1993
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DRUGS - SELECT COMMITTEE
Report on Benzodiazepines and Dependence
Debate resumed from 25 February 1993, on motion by Mr Moore:
That the report be noted.
MS SZUTY (11.30): Madam Speaker, any drug overuse or abuse is a societal problem, and we need to address it as a matter of public health. I welcome the report of the Select Committee on Drugs on benzodiazepines and dependence as it makes a sensible and positive contribution to the issue of responding to this problem. I might point out that benzodiazepines are not the only pharmaceuticals which suffer from problems with overuse. However, protocols for treating the tranquil addiction may well lead to a better understanding of and better approaches to overuse of pharmaceutical substances in general.
Madam Speaker, I find the national usage of these drugs very disturbing. We spend a high percentage of our revenue each year on health and we pride ourselves on being a healthy country, yet this one class of drugs has been prescribed over nine million times over the 1991-92 financial year. I am sure that members recall a television series shown on the ABC last year about overuse of one of these drugs, Rohypnol, among young people. That report showed that some young girls were able to obtain several prescriptions by going from clinic to clinic and that in some cases they had obtained prescriptions from the same medical practice with no recognition of the fact that the scripts had been given within very short timeframes - insufficient timeframes for proper dosage of the drug to have been followed.
Despite the fact that abuse of these substances can be shown in this manner, I agree with the committee's stance that these drugs are helpful in the management of certain conditions. However, there needs to be a better identification of the problem of overuse and I agree with recommendations Nos 1 and 2 which call for a database to be set up that improves our knowledge of benzodiazepine usage in Canberra. Extrapolating figures from national statistics and hoping that by using these we address the problems of overuse is short-sighted. We need to define the problem in quantitative terms, ensure that that information is made available to those who need it, and then ensure that programs address the problems and that their success can be monitored by those very statistics.
This brings me to the third recommendation - that the ACT Department of Health establish, implement and maintain a management plan for dealing with benzodiazepine dependence. The department has an important role in managing and overseeing the treatment of dependence problems. Coordination of services, testing outcomes and providing support for programs is crucial if the problem is going to be overcome. One of the doctors who gave evidence before the committee commented that prescribing patterns have changed and that as the medical practitioners move away from prescribing one class of drug they are moving towards another class of drug. This cycle must be stopped, and adequate collection of data and good management are fundamental to this exercise.
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