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READING
DAVID NOFF'S attack on harm minimisation and also reading
of Peter Beattie and Wendy Edmonds labelling injecting
facilities as immoral, I just have to respond.
Today,
I sat in a crematorium listening to a funeral service
for a young man I didn't know. The Salvation Army captain
who conducted the service for the 23-year-old had obviously
taken time to understand his personality and character.
His
comments triggered all emotions from extreme sadness
to humour. He suggested that today our cars would be
safe in the car park apparently Grant was famous for
travelling by car even though he never owned one! His
Dad said, `We had a roller coaster of a ride with him
for many years. I would get cranky with him sometimes
though Mum never gave up on him. He was Beth's baby
right through everything and always will be. It didn't
matter how bad things got he would always find his way
home to his mum and sister where he could be safe in
their arms and their love.'
On
Monday I was visited by a retired Managing Director
from Melbourne an articulate, dynamic woman she spoke
passionately and lovingly about her 31-year-old son
who died in November last year. The most astonishing
part of her story was that he had detoxed 41 TIMES in
his 10 year struggle with heroin. Here was evidence
that some people just can't do it no matter how much
they want to surely evidence for heroin maintenance
if we ever needed it.
I
also spoke at length yesterday to a lady who spoke of
seven deaths in her family in the last two years her
father, her sister in a house fire, several other relatives
including her daughter from heroin. On top of all this
grief, she suffers from terminal cancer and has a 29-year-old
son abusing her and her husband as a result of his speed
misuse. She sobbed and sobbed as she told me I was the
only person to whom she'd told her story.
Today,
I spent the afternoon at Parramatta Drug Court. What
a tragi-comic experience this was from listening to
the bravado talk of the young men waiting to go into
court and report back on their week. The judge was fantastic
in the way she personally related to each client respectfully,
taking an interest in them, handing out rewards and
sanctions for progress or setbacks in their journey
through the program.
I
reflected on how difficult it was for these individuals
even coercion not being enough to keep many of them
away from drugs. I also thought how much better it was
for them going through this process than being in jail.
(Sadly, some get terminated and sent back to prison.)
Without
buying into the zero tolerance versus harm minimisation
argument it is obvious to me that the countries that
are dealing best with drug issues are those that are
committed to putting financial resources into treatment,
psycho-social counselling and health and social welfare.
Philosophies
are meaningless for those like Les and Beth, Ruth and
Sandra for whom it is all too late. They would surely
agree though that for too long Australia has had an
under-commitment to resourcing treatment and life maintenance.
On the brighter side, it is pleasing to see all levels
of government financing more health strategies than
in the past.
We
often feel that our kids' lives were regarded by others
as futile and not worth living. To us, of course, despite
the struggles we loved them and we need to see society
learning and improving as a result of their and others'
deaths.
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