Alcohol and other drug services
Rachel PAYNE (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:13): My question is for the Minister for Mental Health. The Victorian Alcohol and Other Drugs Strategy 2025–2035 sets out a 10-year plan to reduce alcohol- and drug-related harms across the state. A significant focus in this strategy is harm reduction in Victoria’s health-led, evidence-based approach to alcohol and drug use. The strategy also spruiks the decriminalisation of public intoxication, yet the strategy is essentially silent on the continued criminalisation of small amounts of illicit drugs – a key component of a health-led response to drug abuse. So can the minister advise why decriminalisation is not a key feature of the Victorian alcohol and other drugs strategy?
Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Prevention of Family Violence) (12:14): I thank Ms Payne for her question and for her interest in these matters. I was very pleased late last year to be able to launch our 10-year alcohol and drugs strategy, which is the first of its kind in Victoria, and it was the subject of a lot of consultation with the sector, the workforce and also those with lived experience of drug and alcohol dependency. I am proud that we are part of a government that takes a very health-based response to these challenges. Everybody deserves to get that support in a stigma-free, compassionate way. In our drug and alcohol service system here in Victoria there are wonderful people that are assisting people in the community day in and day out – around 40,000 people a year access our drug and alcohol services.
But it was high time to have a broad and overarching strategy for the sector. There are a few key priorities in the AOD strategy that I know you are aware of, including better information and easier access to services, stronger and increased flexibility in harm reduction and treatment options, and culturally safe and determined responses for Aboriginal Victorians. There is a section in the strategy around system innovation and continuous improvement, and greater coordination across some of those other key parts of service systems like mental health, housing, justice and other areas.
We certainly have been quite clear that the strategy does not consider approaches to individual substances, including cannabis. It is a kind of system-wide, holistic view of the sector, so its focus is really more on delivering that compassionate, coordinated and connected system. We have been clear as a government about our views on decriminalisation in response to the inquiry that the Legalise Cannabis party led in respect to their private members bill. In our response to that committee report we did outline that the government has got no plans to decriminalise use and possession at this time.
Rachel PAYNE (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:16): Thank you, Minister, for your response. You have touched on this already, but I may as well just clarify. By way of supplementary ,another glaring omission in the Victorian alcohol and other drug strategy is cannabis, so my question is: will the minister advise how cannabis fits into this strategy?
Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Prevention of Family Violence) (12:16): I thank Ms Payne for her supplementary. I am not sure I would agree with the way you have characterised it, as a glaring omission, because as I was explaining earlier it is intended for this strategy to be a broad, system-wide view of harm reduction, and I would certainly argue that it does not matter what substance you are talking about, the principles of harm reduction remain the same. It was certainly clear, in the government’s response to the inquiry that your party led, our position in relation to cannabis.