Drug harm reduction
Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (13:27): (582) My question is for the Minister for Mental Health. Advocates have long been calling for a potent synthetic opioids plan for Victoria given the imminent arrival of fentanyl and nitazenes in this country. These opioids are many times more potent than heroin and in overseas jurisdictions have been responsible for catastrophic increases in the number of drug overdoses. Will the government heed this expert advice and urgently develop a potent synthetic opioids plan for Victoria?
Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (13:28): I thank Dr Mansfield for her question. These are really important issues and something that I have been seeking regular briefings from my department about. We are obviously all concerned to see an increase in the amount of synthetic opioids that are entering the illicit drug market here in Victoria, and that is why a number of the initiatives that we have already announced as part of our statewide action plan are so important – work that we will be getting on with without delay. That includes of course making sure that we have access to pharmacotherapy treatment across the state in an expanded sense. We will be moving to open grants for community health organisations to apply for funding so that they can increase the pharmacotherapy available to the Victorian community and in particular to what we know is quite a disparate cohort across the state.
We recently, as you would be aware, Dr Mansfield, announced that the government would be introducing drug checking at festivals later this year and also moving to set up a fixed site mid next year. I have also asked my department to look carefully at what ways we can use that opportunity to strengthen our surveillance system here in Victoria to make sure that we have the best possible system for early alerts so that we can alert the community to any particularly dangerous synthetic opioids that have entered the illicit drug market. For instance, we know that, sadly, a number of recent fatalities have been associated with nitazenes. It is something that I think is a rapidly moving situation and one that we need to take the best possible health advice around, and that is why I have asked my department to provide me with further advice about how we can strengthen our drug surveillance systems here in Victoria.
I am confident that many of the initiatives contained in our statewide action plan go to your point around the need for a policy around synthetic opioids. I expect that those issues will be fully consulted on when we consult around the AOD strategy with the sector and the community for the remainder of this year, and that is work I know that many of our drug expert organisations will be keen to be a part of.
Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (13:31): I thank the minister for that answer. We certainly welcome a number of those initiatives particularly aimed at prevention that you outlined around drug checking and the wider availability of pharmacotherapy. However, I guess once these synthetic opioids arrive, the issue becomes what happens to deal with overdoses. Given the extreme potency of these, immediate treatment is needed, and having naloxone available immediately to save people is what is required. One of the best ways to provide this is to have medically supervised injecting rooms where injecting takes place. So my question is: will the government reconsider its position on medically supervised injecting rooms in light of the threat of synthetic opioids?
Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (13:32): I thank Dr Mansfield for her supplementary question. Of course the government has made its position clear around these issues. I have been on the public record most recently around the need for naloxone to be widely available. We will be introducing legislation to Parliament this year to enable us to roll out a number of naloxone-dispensing units – on top of the network of needle exchanges and other community health organisations, including the medically supervised injecting room in North Richmond – so that we can get that wide availability and education around naloxone as a life-saving reversal drug.