00:00Politicians have made their way to Griffith to hear from people like Roxy, a 19-year-old
00:07student who's five months sober.
00:10People who haven't struggled in addiction will never truly know what it's like.
00:14I didn't care what I was eating, what I was doing, who I was seeing, as long as I got
00:19that drug.
00:20She's one of many sharing their stories on day one of the state government's drug summit,
00:25which is aiming to find a new consensus.
00:28So some of the things we suggested, you suggested, are a whole of government approach to ensure
00:34there is a non-judgmental approach.
00:37It feels like there's a big appetite for change, which is exciting.
00:42The state's last wide-ranging drug summit was held under Bob Carr a quarter of a century
00:46ago.
00:47That led to the medically supervised injecting room in Sydney's King's Cross.
00:52Some attendees are hoping this new summit will pave the way for a shift to decriminalisation.
00:57What our organisation would most like to see is increased support for harm reduction approaches.
01:04If they get a charge for possession and things like that, it impacts some of the employment
01:08options that they have.
01:09I think everyone in the room today is being really open, honest and frank, which is exactly
01:15what the government needs to hear.
01:18Organisations in regional and rural Australia say access to support services is limited
01:22and severely under-resourced.
01:25The government has used today's gathering to announce it will fund $10 million towards
01:30treatment services in the Murrumbidgee region.
01:33If you had somebody behind you saying, you're doing a great job and it's great to see how
01:37far you've come and keep going in your recovery, then you're like, oh wow, people are noticing
01:42this is great and I want to continue to do this.
01:46The summit itself will continue in Lismore next week.
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