Drug rehabilitation services
Wayne FARNHAM (Narracan) (19:17): (149) The action I seek today is from the Minister for Health, and the action I am seeking is some commonsense support for recovering drug addicts. It is quite a sad story. Earlier this month I had a constituent come into my office and tell me about the struggles she has had with her daughter. From a very young age her daughter started to self-harm and was bullied at school. For 13 years now this mother has had struggles with her daughter, and eventually the daughter became addicted to drugs. It was pointed out that just recently her daughter obviously – but thankfully – got to a point in her life when she wanted to get off drugs. If anyone has ever lived with a drug addict, you will know you have a small window of opportunity when they decide it is time to get off drugs, and they need support. The problem here is that you need three negative urine tests before you can be admitted to a rehabilitation service at a cost of $150 each. The mother of the child, who is now 25, had to beg family and friends to raise money to enable her daughter to get into rehab.
It seems the government has the ability and the budget to keep people addicted to drugs with funding for injection centres but lacks the funds to support those who are seeking to stop using. While we need more funding in regional Victoria for many services, including drug rehabilitation centres and beds, not being able to afford access to urine tests to qualify for a bed is incredibly concerning. We should be working to remove the barriers for those who are willing to seek help given the narrow window a drug-addicted person gives us to assist them. I call on the minister to investigate what can be done to reduce the cost of urine testing so we can reduce the barriers that exist for locals in my community who want to stop using and start living again.