Policy Summary

To read the full details of the Greens NSW Drugs and Harm Minimisation Policy click the orange download button on the right

The Greens support a public health approach to drugs, which has been backed by a number of eminent people in recent years.

Many experts and public commentators also advocate a harm minimisation policy, for example:
  • Dr Alex Wodak, current Director of Drug and Alcohol Services at St Vincent’s Hospital at Darlinghurst
  • Professor Gordian Fulde from St Vincent's Hospital
  • Dr Fares Samara, MD, FAChAM, Fellow of the Australasian Chapter of Addictions Medicine 
  • Don Stewart, Retired judge and former Royal Commissioner and inaugural National Crime Authority Chairman
  • The Honorable James Wood, former Royal Commissioner and Supreme Court Justice
  • NSW DPP Nick Cowdery QC
  • Sun Herald columnist Peter FitzSimons
  • Sydney Morning Herald columnist Lisa Pryor

Dr Fares Samara MD, Fellow of the Australasian Chapter of Addictions Medicine (FAChAM), has said:

"As a specialist in this field, I wholeheartedly support the Green Party’s policy on drugs and congratulate them for their courage and honesty... and also urge the other parties to have the same courage and adopt harm minimisation policies without hesitation."
 
Greens Senator-elect for Victoria Dr Richard di Natale - a medical doctor who has worked extensively in the area of drug abuse and dependence - produced the following video on the Greens approach to drugs as part of the 2007 campaign.  ‘Drug Policy: Get the Facts!’
 
 

Key Points

  • The Greens recognise that legal and illegal drugs have adverse health, social and economic effects.
  • The Greens’ drug policy aims to reduce illicit drug use and is based on the best available international evidence.
  • The Greens support the retention of criminal penalties for the unsanctioned production, importation and commercial-scale supply of drugs.
Research clearly shows that the ‘war on drugs’ has failed. Australian governments spend an estimated $4.7billion annually on this war, yet illegal drugs are still freely available on our streets.
 
The Greens support a public health approach to drugs, with drug use treated as a health and social issue.  People who are addicted or dependent on dangerous drugs need treatment and rehabilitation, not gaol.
 
We support allocating resources to diversionary programs, rehabilitation and education instead of wasting money fighting the losing war on drugs. For example, increasing funding for drug treatment programs and early intervention services.
 

Background

The Greens are committed to reducing the damage done to individuals, their families and the wider community by drugs. The war on drugs has been an expensive failure. It has not reduced the availability of illegal drugs, made our communities safer or reduced police corruption.  It has resulted in unnecessary criminalisation of many drug users, particularly amongst Indigenous and young people and has increased overall costs to society.
 
The Greens recognise that gaoling people for personal use of drugs is enormously damaging – particularly to young people and those who would not otherwise be involved in criminal activities – and costly to society as a whole.  It has not stopped harmful drug use.
 
At the same time we acknowledge the damaging nature of some behaviours and the need to deal with these within the criminal justice system.  These include production, importing and large-scale supply of illegal drugs and the supply of illegal substances to children.
 

The Greens support:

  • Ending criminal sanctions for personal drug use, instead focusing on treatment and counselling.
  • Criminal penalties for importers, manufacturers and suppliers of illegal drugs.
  • Increased funding for drug treatment, rehabilitation and counselling.
  • A system of sanctions for drug-dependent habitual users. These include fines and enforceable treatment orders to compel drug dependent people into treatment rather than gaols.
  • Increasing harm reduction programs, such as needle exchanges and medically supervised injecting centres.
  • The regulated medicinal use of drugs with proven therapeutic or palliative benefits regardless of their current status.
  • Using the tax from alcohol sales to fund alcohol and drug education and treatment.
  • Banning donations from drug, tobacco and alcohol industries to political parties.

Some more resources

An excellent, accessible recent article in the British Medical Journal on why the war on drugs has failed and why we need to pursue harm minimisation: An alternative to the war on drugs, BMJ, 2010
 
A flyer produced by the Greens on harm minimisation.
 
Read the full details of the Greens NSW Drugs and Harm Minimisation policy
 
For more information, don’t hesitate to give us a call at the NSW Greens office (02) 9045 6999 or email office@nsw.greens.org.au.