Criminalisation of drug use results in the mass incarceration of people who use drugs. Illicit drug offences represent the second most common offence for custodial sentences in Australia.

Beating the drug epidemic is going to take a holistic approach.There is no one-fit all solution to the scourge of drugs it has to be a combination of education, good parenting,mental health services, better rehab facilities in our regions & prisons & getting tough on dealers.
Harm minimisation programs such as pill testing and safe injecting rooms & needle exchange programs won't solve the drug epidemic but they do save lives, they do make the community safer & they minimise the harm to the drug user, their families & the community.
Once a drug addict arrived at my prison the damage has already been done to the addict, to the families of the addict and to the community.
We don't need issues like this to become a political point scoring debates. Whilst our politicians continue to ignore that harm minimisation programs work young people continue to die from bad pills at music events and from dirty needles.
During my career as a prison boss if I could of implemented a safe injecting room I could have saved many lives & minimised the spreading of communicable diseases such as Hepatitis C virus (HCV) where the prevalence in NSW prisons is 20-30 times higher than in the community.
There are currently no needle and syringe programs (NSPs)operating in any Australian prisons. This is despite a growing body of international research clearly demonstrating that NSPs have been shown to be safe, beneficial and cost-effective within a variety of prison settings.
Australia cannot afford to continue to avoid the serious implications of not implementing prison-based NSPs, both to protect prisoners’ health and human rights, and to limit the spread of BBVs as individuals are released back into the community.
The vast majority of injecting episodes inside prisons occur with shared injecting equipment – a practice identified to be one of the most effective ways to transmit HIV and HCV.12. I have found needles that have been used by multiple inmates for months on end.
End:
@threadreaderapp please unroll

More from Kirsti Miller

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So, as the #MegaMillions jackpot reaches a record $1.6B and #Powerball reaches $620M, here's my advice about how to spend the money in a way that will truly set you, your children and their kids up for life.

Ready?

Create a private foundation and give it all away. 1/

Let's stipulate first that lottery winners often have a hard time. Being publicly identified makes you a target for "friends" and "family" who want your money, as well as for non-family grifters and con men. 2/

The stress can be damaging, even deadly, and Uncle Sam takes his huge cut. Plus, having a big pool of disposable income can be irresistible to people not accustomed to managing wealth.
https://t.co/fiHsuJyZwz 3/

Meanwhile, the private foundation is as close as we come to Downton Abbey and the landed aristocracy in this country. It's a largely untaxed pot of money that grows significantly over time, and those who control them tend to entrench their own privileges and those of their kin. 4

Here's how it works for a big lotto winner:

1. Win the prize.
2. Announce that you are donating it to the YOUR NAME HERE Family Foundation.
3. Receive massive plaudits in the press. You will be a folk hero for this decision.
4. Appoint only trusted friends/family to board. 5/

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