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and health services workers who will
then see the early impacts of drug
trends first-hand.
Ignoring an early warning of a potential
drug problem can be risky. In
November 1991, a joint Australian
Federal Police and Customs report
warned the government of the threat of
Ice, which at the time was a new drug
on the market. Both agencies
unsuccessfully lobbied the federal
government to develop a campaign to
stop its spread. And, as they say, the
rest is history.
More often than not, policy action in
the context of drug trends rises from
media coverage. It drives change more
effectively than warnings from police,
doctors or social workers. By mid-
2013, Australian politicians and
bureaucrats had become increasingly
concerned about the Ice problem. The
media coverage of the ice epidemic in
2014 quickly motivated political
action. Then in 2015 we had a National
Ice Task Force and National Ice Action
Strategy.
I don’t think we need a rapid call to
action in response to Odyssey House’s
report, or a National Heroin Task
Force. At this early stage we need user
research, criminal intelligence and a
proactive open-minded bureaucracy.
Now that the early warning has been
provided, it is the time for drug-user
research. This research needs to focus
on ascertaining whether there is a
change in drug user preferences, and if
so, what its trends are. Put simply, this
research needs to focus on identifying
if there is a problem and, if so, how we
might proactively reduce demand and
minimise harms.
Given recent United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime reporting has
revealed that heroin production in the
Golden Triangle is once again high, it
is time for the Australian Federal
Police, Australian Crime Commission
and Australian Border Force to collect
and analyse criminal intelligence on
heroin in Australia and regionally. The
focus of this body of work should be on
identifying trends in heroin supply in
Australia and how this might be
reduced.
Finally, we need a bureaucracy and
legislature that is willing to proactively
invest resources to prevent a change in
drug patterns. If this doesn’t occur,
there is a chance that in the future we
might be facing a heroin epidemic, and
asking ourselves how we sleepwalked
into the problem.
Family Drug Support website
www.fds.org.auFor up-to-date information on drug support and activities