Health professionals on The Greens drugs policy
March 21st, 2007Dr Alex Wodak, Director of Drug and Alcohol Services at St Vincent’s Hospital, on ABC 702:
VIRGINIA TRIOLI (ABC 702 presenter): Do you think the Greens are on the right track here with their [drug] policy?
DR WODAK: Yes, I do. Yes I do… the plain fact is that, whether we like it or not, the war on drugs has failed, and failed miserably… [ABC 702 Mornings 15 March 2007]
Dr Fares Samara, MD, FAChAM (Fellow of the Australasian Chapter of Addictions Medicine): “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.”
Other professionals who back a health approach to drug taking
Professor Gordian Fulde from St Vincent’s Hospital supports the Greens policy: “I’d worry if there was anything done by law that would deter people coming to an emergency department in trouble because they thought they might get arrested or put in jail,” he said. [Seven News]
Don Stewart, Retired Judge and Royal Commissioner says about ice: “We’ve got to think more instead of the criminalisation of it, and the criminal approach and trying to stamp it out by penalty and criminal law action, we’ve got to think seriously about a medical approach, more seriously about how we can change things for the better.” [ABC Radio National Law Report 13 March 2007]
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Informed media comment on The Greens’ policy
Peter FitzSimons, Sun Herald: “Saying our drug laws are in urgent need of reform doesn’t make the Greens soft on drugs. It simply means they recognise the truth: the system we have is a hopeless joke and only remains in place because we haven’t had politicians of sufficient courage to do anything to change it.” [The Sun-Herald, p2, 18 March 2007]
