ACT 'beginning to see change' two years on from the introduction of drug decriminalisation laws

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Advocates say since the ACT decriminalised "personal use" amounts of some illicit drugs, the territory has seen a shift toward meaningful harm reduction. But others say the drug decriminalisation laws are not working as intended, and have called for them to be repealed. The government will soon begin its formal evaluation of the laws' success in minimising drug use harm.

Transcript

00:00Quiet tribute honouring the lives lost to drug overdoses.

00:09Families and advocates came together at Weston Park, among them Louise Hughes who lost her

00:13partner to an overdose 10 years ago.

00:16His death changed the course of our lives.

00:19My son lost a father he will never get to grow old with.

00:24No shared birthdays, no games of footy, no quiet chats as he becomes a man.

00:30She says while things are improving, stigma is still stopping people from asking for help.

00:35I think that, you know, more people are now coming and asking for support and when I think

00:40back 10 years ago that is probably what my partner could not do and to sort of make it

00:46more normal allows people to take that step forward.

00:50The ceremony also marks two years since the ACT made major changes to the laws, decriminalising

00:57the possession of small amounts of illicit drugs.

01:00What we're really hearing from the community is that they have seen a reduction in stigma

01:05and increase in people talking about their drug use, seeking help.

01:11Whether that's going to come through in the data at this point is not entirely clear.

01:15But some advocates say more still needs to be done.

01:19More opportunities for people to have access to harm reduction services in the ACT would

01:23certainly make a big difference.

01:25And the Police Association says the system is under pressure.

01:28We were expecting it to go backwards according to the government that this would be something

01:32that would go backwards but what we're actually seeing is that it's increasing the workload

01:36on police officers, increasing the workload on the health system.

01:38The whole idea of these drug reforms were to minimise harm and to reduce harm and we're

01:43not seeing that.

01:44It's not a common aim but different approaches on how to save lives.

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