The national drug strategy 2017-2026

Australia’s strategies for reducing harms from alcohol and other drugs (AOD) rest on three areas of action:

Reducing demand

• Preventing people from starting to take drugs and/or delaying their of use of AOD
• Reducing the misuse of AOD in the community
• Supporting individuals to recover from dependence by implementing evidence-informed treatment

Reducing supply

• Stopping, disrupting and reducing the making and supply of illegal drugs
• Managing and/or regulating the accessibility of legal drugs that can cause addiction and harm

Harm reduction

• Lessening the negative health, social and economic effects of drug use for users, families and the community

The Strategy recognises that the use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs is influenced by many factors, including biological, psychosocial and environmental factors, which are also impacted on by such influences as:

• Excessive availability
• Socialising
• Experimentation
• Peer pressure and/or being accepted into a social group
• Dealing with stress or tough life events
• Trauma
• Wanting to increase pleasurable experiences or positive feelings and behaviours. 

The purpose of the demand reduction strategies is to modify these factors and influences to delay, prevent or reduce the use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs in the community.

Preventing Uptake and Delaying First Use

The goal of preventing the update of AOD is to reduce personal, family and community harms that it can cause. Prevention of uptake also reduces the load on health and law enforcement resources and produces social and economic benefits and a healthier workforce.

The research the Strategy is based on identifies that, by delaying an individual’s first use of AOD, strategies that focus on demand reduction can lead to improved health outcomes for the individual and society in general. Harms from drug use—including the mental and physical health harms, and the risks associated with continued use and long-term harms—are amplified the earlier an individual begins to use. Strategies that delay the commencement of use also decrease costs to the community.

Reducing Harmful Use

As previously discussed, the harms that can come from drug use are dependent on:

• The nature of the drug
• The volume consumed
• Whether consumption takes place over time or on a single occasion
• The way in which and how often it is used
• The context of use along with individual factors.

Effective demand reduction tactics that can lessen harmful drug use over time, or the amount consumed on single occasions, can reduce some of these harms.

Examples of demand reduction initiatives include:

• Education and early intervention
• Drug treatment programs
• Information and awareness campaigns
• Marketing and advertising restrictions of tobacco, alcohol and prescription drugs
• Programs that focus on creating protective factors and increased social engagement.

Supporting Recovery

Treatment options and support services are very successful in helping to reduce risky drug use and related problems for individuals and the community. A variety of drug services and support are available, from peer-based community support to brief interventions in primary care, hospital services and intensive specialist treatment services. These services are explored in more depth in the next chapter.

Australia’s reduction strategies aim to curb the availability of AOD to prevent or reduce the problems related to their use, misuse and abuse. Controlling which populations can use certain drugs—as well as when, where and how they can use—reduces the harms experienced by the individual and community.

Legal Drug Supply Regulation

Over 17.1% of Australians who drink alcohol engage in drinking behaviours that put them at risk of harm from alcohol-related disease or injury over their lifetime.

A little over a quarter of Australians drink alcohol monthly at levels that risk them being exposed to short-term harms, such as violence or car injuries.

The harms from misuse, abuse or addiction from legally obtainable products, including tobacco, alcohol and pharmaceuticals, can be lowered by legislating to restrict supply through legal channels. Strategies to regulate the supply of legal drugs can include:

• Governments and key stakeholders working with the relevant industries and educating vulnerable communities to avert misuse
• Using police and other enforcement bodies to apply existing regulations
• Introducing novel constraints where required.

Regulating supply also includes ensuring that pharmaceuticals, volatiles (such as glue, petrol and other inhalants) and substances, such as precursor chemicals, are accessible only for lawful uses and are not redirected for illegal use.

Precursor Chemicals

Precursors are chemicals used primarily for legal manufacturing purposes to make products like plastics, cosmetics and, perfumes, or medicines. However, they can also be misused to produce illicit drugs, such as methamphetamines, heroin or cocaine.

Example

Acetic anhydride (AA) is used in industrial processes for the production of, for example, plastics, textiles, dyes and photochemical agents. It can also be used as a reaction agent for the illicit production of heroin.

Ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, which is used to manufacture legal medications such as cold or allergy tablets, is a nasal decongestant. They are also essential in the illicit production of methamphetamine. The Australian Government acted over a decade ago to restrict the over-the-counter supply of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine when it became apparent that people were pharmacy-hopping to buy large amounts of cold and allergy tablets to make meth.

Illegal Drug Supply Reduction and Prevention

Preventing or disrupting the illegal trade in drugs and precursors decreases availability and, therefore, reduces their use and the consequential harms to individuals and the community. When we talk about the illicit supply of drugs, we include not only prohibited drugs such as cannabis, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine but also illicitly supplied pharmaceuticals. It also includes the illicit supply of substances that are legally available, such as alcohol, tobacco, solvents and precursors used in illicit drug manufacture.

Learn more about strategies for supply reduction at ‘Supply Reduction’ from Alcohol, Tobacco & Other Drugs in Australia by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

The Strategy identifies a variety of harms such as:

Health Harms including:

• injury
• chronic conditions and preventable
• diseases (including lung and other cancers; cardiovascular disease; liver cirrhosis);
• mental health problems and
• road trauma.

Social Harms including:

• violence and other crime;
• engagement with the criminal justice system more broadly;
• unhealthy childhood development and trauma;
• intergenerational trauma;
• contribution to domestic and family violence;
• child protection issues; and child/family wellbeing.

Economic Harms associated with:

• healthcare and law enforcement costs;
• decreased productivity;
• associated criminal activity and
• reinforcement of marginalisation and disadvantage.

~ National Drug Strategy 2017–2026

Reducing Risk Behaviours

Harms from AOD often come from risky behaviours associated with drug use. Risky behaviours include aggressive behaviours, unprotected sex, jaywalking, drunk or drugged driving (including boats and bicycles), swimming when under the influence and even falling asleep in dangerous places. Individuals can be influenced to reconsider risky behaviours through successful education and awareness campaigns, and public policy and programs.

Example

Effective public policy in Australia:

• Drink driving laws have reduced the occurrence of people driving while intoxicated.
• Smoke-free area laws have decreased the community’s exposure to second-hand cigarette smoke.
• Needle and syringe programs have reduced the incidence of people sharing injecting equipment and contracting blood-borne diseases.

Safer Settings

Strategies to create safer settings are designed to reduce harm from AOD consumption for the user and the community. Strategies can include making changes to environments, venues and events to reduce the risk of individuals suffering harms from AOD use.

Example

Safer settings include:

• Smoke-free areas to avoid second-hand smoke
• Chill-out spaces at festivals and in clubs to reduce anxiety in drug users
• Providing food and free water at licensed venues so that patrons are able to rehydrate and not drink on an empty stomach
• The opportunity for safe disposal of needles and syringes to prevent accidental transmission of blood-borne diseases to the wider community.

The Strategy has four principles that underpin the implementation of harm minimisation approaches and inform all policy implemented under the Strategy.

Evidence-Informed Responses

Evidence-based practice should be at the heart of all funding, resource allocation and program implementation for harm minimisation strategies. Priorities should evolve with new and emerging evidence, and innovation and leadership in new approaches is encouraged under the Strategy.

The Strategy also supports research and the building and sharing of evidence to allow the national approach to be informed by outcomes from local implementation. The Strategy and programs initiated under it must be informed by current and accurate data. However, evidence is always evolving, so programs and responses must evolve to meet changing needs. Where evidence is limited or unavailable, effective policy may be implemented if it has the potential to achieve the desired outcomes and be used to expand the knowledge base of practitioners and policymakers.

Partnerships

Partnerships between health providers and law enforcement are pivotal to providing successful harm minimisation under the Strategy. It is also important to maintain and improve partnerships that address the multitude of factors that effect AOD use, including partnerships with government and non-government agencies to provide:

• Education programs
• Treatment facilities and services
• Primary health care that is responsive to the needs of the community
• An integrated approach that includes all aspects of policy making across areas of:
  • Criminal justice
  • Child protection
  • Social welfare
  • Fiscal policy
  • Trade
  • Consumer policy
  • Road safety
  • Employment

The success of the Strategy also relies on building and maintaining strong partnerships with:

• Academics
• Families and communities negatively affected by AOD
• Peer educators who assist users and organisations that support users.

It is also vital to the Strategy that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and other priority populations are consulted and brought into partnerships so they can provide grassroots information and interventions that will give the best possible outcomes for these communities.

Coordination and Collaboration

Coordination and collaboration give better outcomes, novel responses to issues of concern, improved use, and less waste of resources. The Strategy gives stakeholders information and guidance about identifying approved priorities and reliable approaches at a local and national level, and it facilitates collaboration at every level through a variety of accountabilities within the harm minimisation approach and through the Strategy’s governance structure.

National Direction and Jurisdictional Implementation

Funding and implementation of the Strategy happens at every government level—all levels of government are responsible for regulation and funding programs. Jurisdictional implementation allows for governments to take action that reflects local circumstances and addresses emerging issues and drug types.

The Strategy has identified three key priority areas of focus that reflect current evidence of harm, and the views of stakeholders that were presented through the consultation processes carried out during the development phase of the Strategy.

The priorities are: