Drug reform advocate and medically supervised injecting centre provider, Uniting, is calling on the NSW Labor government to respond to the recommendations of the NSW Drug Summit Report within the six month deadline.
Uniting say the deadline was ‘identified by the summit’s co-chairs, with the life saving reforms recommended in the report’.
This deadline is about to end next week, say Uniting.
They say, ‘Uniting’s call will be echoed by a coalition of community services organisations, experts and health organisations including Wayside Chapel, NUAA, Western Sydney Imam Mahmoud Alzahari, and mothers impacted by our unfair drug laws, at a press conference in Sydney’.
Emma Maiden, Uniting NSW.ACT’s Director Advocacy and External Relations, said, ‘It’s been 175 days since the government was handed the Drug Summit Report – the entire sector and the community have extremely high expectations of the Government’s response and its implementation of the recommendations’.
‘Time’s nearly up on this Premier.
‘There is no time left to waste, our unfair and outdated drug laws and the stigma it perpetuates are causing harm to people in NSW and this needs to end.
‘The Drug Summit Report recommends comprehensive drug checking and education, improvements to existing systems to divert more people to a health response for their drug use and more access to life-saving harm reduction services like supervised injecting spaces.
‘The community expects the government to back all these reforms alongside a whole of government alcohol and other drugs (AOD) strategy and more access and funding for vitally needed treatment services, particularly in regional and rural NSW.
‘One small change to a single piece of legislation that has prevented any other supervised injecting spaces in NSW, aside from our MSIC in Kings Cross for the last 24 years, would be a simple, easy and sensible reform,’ she said.
Saving countless lives through changes to the law
‘Deleting just 96 words from the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 No 226 has the potential to save countless lives by stopping the ban on other supervised injecting spaces where the evidence shows they are needed, and the community wants it.
‘Supervised injecting spaces save lives and help keep people’s loved ones safe.
‘The Penington Institute’s recent report shows that in 2023, 537 people lost their lives to an accidental overdose NSW. This is more than one person every single day that is losing their life unnecessarily.
‘Every single overdose death is preventable, and the government has a chance, in its response to the Drug Summit, to meaningfully address this tragedy’, Emma said
‘In anyone’s book, these are shocking figures.
‘The Drug Summit consensus was clear as was the government’s commitment to a timely response
‘This is the moment to implement long-overdue and urgently needed reforms in NSW – to keep our families and communities safe.
‘Ours, our partners, the sectors and the communities’ expectations of the NSW government are extremely high on this,’ Emma said.
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