The NSW government's new "two strikes" policy for illicit drug use must ensure expanded health services and community safety are top priorities, Hunter MPs say.
The government announced a four-year $500 million program this week in response to the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Drug Ice.
The inquiry heard that ice use had soared in the Hunter and children as young as 12 were using the drug. Some people were "trapped" in predatory relationships with drug dealers and suppliers.
Cases of babies in the womb being exposed to methamphetamine were highlighted in the Hunter, along with dozens of instances of children being removed from ice-addicted parents.
A decline in the price of the drug in the Hunter had made it more accessible, including in schools.
Despite similar stories being heard across the state, the government took two years and eight months to respond to the inquiry amid political struggles over the drug war.
Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison said the government had taken too long to respond to the report, at a time of crisis for many.
"We know this is a complex issue, but surely some of these recommendations could have been implemented sooner," Ms Aitchison said.
She said people come to this issue from a number of perspectives, but ultimately everyone needs to be safe.
"If you have a family member struggling with addiction, you just want them to get help as soon as possible. However, those who have experienced or witnessed drug-induced violence also need our support.
"It's been clear for decades that a straight law and order response with no access to rehabilitation programs hasn't been working. It's a shame it's taken three years for the government to even start trialling any of the recommendations."
Ms Aitchison said the litmus test will be whether the treatment services become available to those who need them.
"When the government is struggling just to manage the health system to provide basic medical services, there's a question as to whether they can expand to meet the complex needs of people with addiction," she said.
Cessnock MP Clayton Barr said "one of the primary drivers of drug use and dependency is mental health".
"So if you want to start treating drug problems in a way other than locking people up and throwing away the key, then the first step is mental health support services," Mr Barr said.
"Let's face it, with really addictive drugs like ice, it could be any family member on this pathway."
He said jailing people was not the answer in many instances.
"We can fill our jails 10 times over if we want to, but that will just destroy a whole bunch of lives. That's not to say there's not a place for jail to be used for repeated drug use, crime, dealing and manufacture. But the softer and more humane initial response can be through mental health. Everyone knows this - the government, the attorney general, the Labor opposition and all the crossbenchers.
"We have to take the community on that journey with us because people affected by drug use, abuse and crime - like break and enter - want justice as well."
Mr Barr said people who work in the jail system tell him that "some of these people are just bad".
"They've probably been bad and will be bad for most of their lives unfortunately. But there are other people who have just fallen into the wrong crowd, experiment or night out and by and large are not bad people.
"I've had families in my office in complete despair that their son or daughter is now an addict and in prison. It breaks your heart to see people going through that journey with a loved one. It could be any one of us."
A key part of the government's policy is a pre-court diversion scheme with a "two strikes" fine system. This will allow police to issue a maximum of two "criminal infringement notices" - fines of about $400 each - to low-level drug offenders.
The fine can be waived if offenders complete a health intervention program through NSW Health. Police will retain the discretion to charge a person instead of issuing a fine, which has raised equity concerns.
Mr Barr said the "two chances concept is pretty fair and reasonable".
He said those caught on strike one "need to be thinking seriously about where they're heading". "If you get caught on strike two, you really need to take stock of where you're at and what you want your future to be."
The inquiry report had called for drug decriminalisation, while making clear that it is "not the same as legalisation". It also highlighted that "severe penalties for supply and trafficking would remain".
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said illicit drugs will continue to be illegal, but the funding being provided was the "largest investment in evidence-based alcohol and other drug services in the state's history".
"I disagree with decriminalisation," he said, adding that the state needed "a health response and a criminal justice response" and the announcement "captures both".
The government said $358 million will go towards "health-related programs including evidence-based treatment support and early intervention services in regional and rural areas for priority populations".
But by maintaining a focus on a criminal response, the government opposed the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, which repeatedly called for "personal addiction issues" to be treated as "health and social issues, not as criminal ones".
Greens MP Cate Faehrmann said it was "unacceptable that a pre-court drug diversionary program won't be implemented until after the election", given the long wait for the government to act on the inquiry.
"It's a cowardly move by the government that, after delaying their response for nearly three years, they are now delaying any program to divert people from the courts and remove criminal penalties for drug use until after the election," Ms Faehrmann said.
The inquiry recommended that the government "develop strategies to limit the use of strip searches of people suspected of being in possession of prohibited drugs for personal use only".
NSW Bar Association president Gabrielle Bashir said it was regrettable that the government did not embrace reform on strip searching, in particular of minors.
The inquiry's hearing in Maitland in June 2019 was told that the rate of methamphetamine-related hospitalisations [for people aged 16 years or over] more than trebled in the Hunter New England and Central Coast health districts from 2013 to 2017.
Presentations to the alcohol and drug unit for "amphetamine-type stimulants" rose from 5.4 per cent of "all episodes of care" in 2010 to 17.2 per cent by 2018. This was an increase of more than 300 per cent.
In the same period, there was a 700 per cent increase in the number of people admitted to a withdrawal unit at Belmont Hospital, with amphetamines the primary drug of concern.
More males than females were affected by ice addiction and Aboriginal people were overrepresented.
Those affected often had childhood trauma, mental health issues, housing difficulties and intellectual disability, and had faced troubles like alcoholism, abuse of other drugs and domestic violence.
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