Drug reform will be the focus of a four-day summit to be held later this year in New South Wales after the premier, Chris Minns, fulfilled one of Labor’s key election commitments as part of a $33.9m package to tackle the complex issue.
The premier also announced funding for 12 new drug and alcohol hubs, to be run by not-for-profits, in regional and rural areas including Shellharbour, Orange, Wagga Wagga, Nimbin and Queanbeyan.
The centres form part of the government’s response to the damning 2018 special commission into ice addiction, which recommended the complete decriminalisation of drug possession.
Minns said the summit would bring people together to find “new ways forward”.
“We know that drug use impacts individuals, families and communities in many different ways,” he said.
He did not outline which drugs would be examined, nor which policies.
The long-awaited drug summit will be split up, with two days of forums in regional NSW in October and then a further two in Sydney slated for December.
The health minister, Ryan Park, said the summit would be an “important conversation”, the like of which the state had not seen since the historic 1999 summit that led to the establishment of the medically supervised injecting centre.
“A lot of work has gone into this so far, and more work will go into this in partnership with the community to ensure we get this right,” he said.
Longtime drug reform advocates at Uniting NSW, which runs the medically supervised injecting centre, welcomed news of the summit, which they hoped would closely replicate that of 25 years ago.
The centre’s director, Dr Marianne Jauncey, hoped it would lead to reform that would make NSW “a leader, once again, in fair and sensible drug policy”.
“Our current laws perpetuate stigma and create harm by driving people away from seeking and finding the support they need,” she said.
Uniting NSW urged the government to act on evidence-based interventions ahead of the summit including drug checking, which the premier has reportedly ruled out.
The Greens’ spokesperson for drug harm reduction, Cate Faehrmann, also called on the government to implement pill testing ahead of the summit.
“Today’s announcement comes… after a spate of overdoses in NSW and Victoria after people unknowingly consumed drugs cut with dangerous synthetic opioids like fentanyl and nitazenes,” she said.
“I urge the Minns government to allow pill testing to be trialled in this state too before the drug summit.”
