Page 5551 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 17 November 2010
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MS BRESNAN: I present a paper entitled “Summary of responses to Discussion Paper on ‘Implementing a Needle and Syringe Program in the Alexander Maconochie Centre’”. I tabled a paper entitled “Implementing a Needle and Syringe Program in the Alexander Maconochie Centre” earlier this year, which set out the case for an NSP as part of a comprehensive harm minimisation strategy in the prison. The paper I am tabling today provides an outline of the responses to the paper and recommends operating an NSP from the health centre in the AMC, in conjunction with an appropriate non-government organisation or organisations.
The paper draws from responses from Anex, ACTCOSS, Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform, the Canberra Alliance for Harm Minimisation and Advocacy, the Alcohol and Drug Foundation ACT—ADFACT—and the Public Health Association of Australia. Additionally, references are made to the Anex paper “With conviction: the case for controlled needle and syringe programs in Australian prisons” and the report I received from the Institute on Drugs and Drug Addiction, Health Ministry, Portugal, on the operation of needle and syringe programs in Portuguese correctional facilities.
There are two perspectives that were provided by the responses to the paper that I would like to highlight. The first, from the Canberra Alliance for Harm Minimisation and Advocacy, is that, due to the current availability of needles within the prison, in effect a needle and syringe program already exists within the AMC, albeit in a dangerous and unregulated fashion. The policy choice facing the government is then not whether or not needles should be available in prisons, but rather whether the government should be involved in regulating the usage and exchange of needles to ensure that they are provided and used in a safe way.
Secondly, the paper by Anex identifies that harm minimisation strategies comprise three elements: supply reduction, demand reduction and harm reduction. The current regime of security and treatment within the AMC adequately services the first two factors. However, there is a lack of harm reduction in prisons due to the inability for prisoners to inject safely. A true harm minimisation strategy recognises that governments not only have a responsibility to minimise drug use but also have a responsibility to minimise the harm associated with drug use. By not providing an option for inmates to minimise harm to themselves through the provision of clean injecting equipment, the government undermines their harm minimisation strategy.
The evidence shows that such programs substantially reduce the incidence of blood-borne virus transmission in prison environments, reduce the risk of needle-stick injury for corrections officers, staff and other inmates and do not lead to attacks. Furthermore, implementing an NSP does not increase the rates of drug use in prison environments, and in some cases, reduce drug use when operated in conjunction with health services.
The ACT Greens have recommended that a needle and syringe program be operated from the health centre in the AMC, in conjunction with a non-government
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