With news that the Co-Chairs of the 2024 NSW Drug Summit have now handed their report to the NSW Government, expectations are high across the sector that the Government will respond quickly, with a raft of much needed and long overdue reforms that will keep our kids safe. 

“The Drug Summit consensus was clear,” Emma Maiden, Uniting NSW.ACT’s Director of Advocacy and External Relations said. 

“The Drug Summit Report released today supports comprehensive drug checking and education, efforts to divert more people from criminal charges, ways to create more supervised injecting spaces, a whole of Government alcohol and other drugs (AOD) strategy and more access and funding for vitally needed treatment services, particularly in regional and rural NSW. 

“We have high expectations of the NSW Government on this – we need the Government to act swiftly in its political and legislative response to this report, we cannot have a repeat of the slow response and inaction following the Ice Inquiry. 

“The families and friends of those impacted by our unfair drug laws and communities across NSW have waited too long for change. 

“It’s safe to say that there’s a growing anticipation within the community services sector about the report and how the Government responds,” Emma said. 

“The Drug Summit and the over 450 delegates representing a cross section of community voices, people with lived/living experience, police, health experts, legal services, NGO’s and the AOD sector, and the 3600 responses to the NSW governments online Have Your Say survey is the government’s mandate for action and change. 

“We need the Government to urgently respond to the report, with the appropriate funding attached for implementation and we need them to look carefully at the inherent unfairness of the Early Drug Detection Initiative (EDDI) in its current form,” she said. 

“The people of NSW have waited far too long for positive change to our unfair drug laws, laws which perpetuate harm, promote stigma and fail to address drug use and dependency as a health and welfare issue, rather than an issue for cops and Courts,” Emma said.  

“With sensible changes, we can ensure the people we love are in the right system, keeping them safe,” Emma said. 

Recently released results from the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare (AIHW) show that support for harm reduction across Australia has never been higher. 

Uniting commissioned polling last year in 5 key seats in NSW, which revealed that 74%, or three out of four NSW residents support health responses to drug use. 

Uniting runs the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre and has spearheaded the Fair Treatment campaign for fairer drug laws for over six years.