Image: 'Ice corriders' sucking in Central Queensland drug users, Anthony Templeton, The Courier Mail 28 April 2017
The Palaszczuk Government is extending action and public input on its response to the scourge of the drug ice, with further roundtables to be convened and more time for consultation on its draft action plan, Action on Ice.
The community roundtable held in Townsville on 17 May highlighted the need for multiple agencies, organisations and community sectors to work together on solutions to reduce the impact of the drug on Queenslanders, their families and communities.
Discussions included identifying existing actions that can be better implemented in regional and rural areas of the state, with a strong focus on local solutions.
Premier Palaszczuk said funds would be spread across many areas.
“Funds will be invested across the full spectrum of responses, including community-based counselling, non-residential rehabilitation, pre-and post-treatment support such as withdrawal management in residential rehabilitation, specialist peer support for families and flexible modes for counselling.”
The draft action plan examines the impact of ice on the individual, families, frontline service providers and the community. It places ice within the broader context of responding to alcohol and other drugs and focuses on:
- reducing supply, primarily through law enforcement activity
- reducing demand through prevention, early intervention and treatment
- minimising harm through specialised programs, services and initiatives.
For many councils and communities working to reduce demand through prevention strategies, addressing the underlying factors and motivators for drug use includes acknowledging the broad social determinants that contribute to substance misuse, especially for vulnerable people in the community. These include complex and interdependent factors such as poverty, stigma and marginalisation, mental illness, lack of adequate education, housing and employment.
Councils are well placed to understand the complexities and dangers of dealing with ice users in the community as stated in Action on Ice:
“The adverse effects of ice are impacting those involved in the delivery of frontline services to the community. Safely managing the violence and psychosis sometimes associated with ice use is amongst the challenges being faced on a daily basis…”
Council community services officers, housing officers, environmental and public health officers as well as indirect council staff positions, together with associated community organisation roles, are handling these situations in greater amounts as the ice epidemic continues.
Minimising harm to individuals and the community at large is becoming a great concern, particularly for population groups identified in Action on Ice as being more vulnerable to use and harms from ice, including:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
- people living in rural and remote areas
- young adults
- people involved in the criminal justice system
- unemployed people
- people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or intersex
- people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
- industry groups such as hospitality, construction, manufacturing, transport and mining including the Fly-in-Fly-Out (FIFO) workforce.
Action on Ice has been informed by the outcomes from the discussion paper: Ways to Combat Ice Addiction in Queensland, which was released in September 2015, and the findings of the National Ice Taskforce.
It also complements the National Ice Action Strategy, endorsed by the Council of Australian Governments on 11 December 2015.
Public comment on the State Government’s draft action plan has been extended to 31 October.