Personal drug use must be treated as a health issue

Transcript: AMA Queensland President, Dr Maria Boulton, ABC Brisbane, Mornings with Rebecca Levingston, Wednesday 22 February 2023

Subject: Drug law reform

REBECCA LEVINGSTON: ..[changes to the way] the justice system deals with minor drug offences in Queensland. A relaxation is how it's being described. Under the proposal if you're found with less than 50 grams of any drug, you won't be arrested. You'll essentially be given three chances before facing a criminal charge. So what do doctors think of that change? Well, Dr Maria Boulton is President of the Australian Medical Association in Queensland. Morning, Maria.

DR MARIA BOULTON:   Good morning, Rebecca.

REBECCA LEVINGSTON:   What do you think of this change to Queensland drug laws?

DR MARIA BOULTON:   Look, we welcome this change and it's something that AMA Queensland has been calling for since July 2021. We convened a drug reform roundtable with legal experts, correctional services personnel, community and health experts, as well as people with lived experience of drug use. And this came out of our recommendations.

There are plenty of studies showing that this approach actually produces results. We know that in countries like Portugal where they use diversion strategies, there is actually a drop in crime. And we also know from our own Queensland cannabis diversion strategies that people are less likely to come in contact with police once they've been through those processes.

REBECCA LEVINGSTON:   One of the figures that stood out to me is one in six Australians have used illicit drugs in the last 12 months. Does that figure surprise you?

DR MARIA BOULTON:   No, it doesn't. I'm a GP, so I see a fair bit of this in my day to day and in my 20 years of experience. And there's another thing that this will do and that is reduce the stigma of people who use drugs. Hopefully they will be more likely to approach doctors and health professionals and seek the help that they need.

REBECCA LEVINGSTON:   And the drugs we're talking about here, heroin, cocaine, ice - that’s methamphetamine. What do you hope happens in an instance where someone who's caught carrying a small quantity of that gets a first, a second or a third chance and is sent to one of these diversionary programs? What's the goal of that then, Maria?

DR MARIA BOULTON:   We hope that if a person ends up in a diversionary program, they stop abusing drugs. That's the goal. And that they stop and that they never come in contact with police over substance use issues. And also that those people lead complete lives. Because what happens is that we know that a small majority of people will go on to have terrible addiction issues and they won't fulfill their life potential. This is terrible. It affects relationships, it affects our work. And if we can avoid people from having to go through that and treat them earlier on in the piece, isn't that much better?

REBECCA LEVINGSTON:   As you say, as a GP, you see lots of people in lots of different circumstances. People make assumptions about heroin or cocaine users. And I think cocaine in particular is seen as almost a party drug by sort of the upper socioeconomic parts of society. People will make their assumptions about heroin users as well and what they're capable of doing. But ice, methamphetamine, has been defined as a scourge that is so highly addictive and highly destructive, and the idea that the first time you use ice, it can be sort of addictive from that point on. Is that borne out by the evidence that you see?

DR MARIA BOULTON:   Yes, correct. And that's why it's so important that the police resources are diverted to look after and prosecute the people who are trafficking those drugs. Because we do need to reduce the access, especially of our young population, to drugs. And that's why it's essential that we free up the police. Let us deal with the health response and let the police deal with the people who are trafficking the drugs.

Just to make it clear, if people are under the effects of a substance and they commit a crime, they will be dealt with through the criminal court system. So that does not excuse that behaviour. This is just for people who are caught with a personal amount of substance.

But the other issue is prevention. And I've been listening to all your coverage on what's been happening in Queensland with youth crime. It's really important that we do put resources into prevention, and this is where these diversion programs come in. But it's also important that when we're looking at the state budget this year, that we put some money into the prevention of mental health issues and drug use and prevention needs to start much earlier on. It needs to start in the first 1000 days of life to ensure that families have the support to care for babies when they come to the world.

And I think that there needs to be funding that goes into it. There also needs to be funding that goes into these diversion programs. A lot of GPs who work in this area are retirement age. And we know that there's a need to ensure that there are the funds to ensure that these diversion programs are supported. Because as we learned from yesterday, they predict there's going to be about 17,000 people access the program in the first year. So Queensland Health must ensure that there are enough resources so that this program is successful as we know it can be from the evidence.

REBECCA LEVINGSTON:   My goodness. 17,000. I didn't realise that figure was out there. And that was going to be my question to you. Do we have the resources for these drug diversionary programs? And lots of people asking that on text this morning. And because we know as well in terms of drug rehabilitation programs, very costly and very long wait lists as well.

DR MARIA BOULTON:   Yeah. And with drug diversion, it's actually cheaper than having someone go to jail. So it is cheaper. But we need to ensure that we have the funding, the staff needed, the expertise needed, and we need to continue to do what we know works through evidence. And the evidence is clear that people accessing these programs do have great results and they're less likely to come in contact with police later on. And from countries like Portugal, we know that there's an associated reduction in crime, so it works. We just need to ensure that it's adequately funded.

REBECCA LEVINGSTON:   Maria, great to talk as always. Thanks so much.