Law blamed for hep C epidemic
By Misha Schubert
June 13, 2003
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THE federal Government's conservative tough-on-drugs policies have
triggered an explosion in hepatitis C infections, a secret health
department report has found.
And the disease has become an "epidemic", with half a million
Australians likely to have the debilitating virus by 2020.
The paper, prepared by independent experts for the federal Health
Department, lashes the Howard Government for "abrogating
responsibility" and refusing to provide leadership and resources to
fix the "urgent" public health problem.
Health Minister Kay Patterson has kept the report from the public since
she received it last November.
But a copy obtained by The Australian reveals a damning critique
of the Government's failure to act.
"The (Government's) strategy has not succeeded in controlling the
hepatitis C epidemic in Australia. The urgency of this situation cannot
be overstated," it says.
The experts are particularly critical of "zero tolerance"
policies adopted by conservative state and federal leaders.
The "zero tolerance" approach tries to stamp out illicit drug
use instead of trying to make their inevitable use safer.
"There is a growing recognition that criminalisation of injecting
drug use . . . has contributed to increased transmission rates."
The experts call for a national public awareness campaign and better
partnerships with groups working with injecting drug users.
The hepatitis C virus causes chronic liver disease in up to 85 per cent
of those infected. It is transmitted through blood with up to 90 per cent
of new infections from injecting drug use but rarely spread through sex.
The report calls for drastic government action to boost prevention and
safety. "Otherwise too many people will continue to become infected
and Australia will not be able to meet the substantial costs of treating
and caring for the hepatitis C-affected community in 15 to 20 years'
time," it says.
The experts also say spending more money makes good economic sense.
"Expenditure on prevention of hepatitis C infection will be offset
by future savings on end-stage treatment of hepatitis C-related liver
disease and liver transplants."
The expert panel included Howard Thomas, head of the department of
medicine at St Mary's Hospital in London, Fran Baum, who heads the public
health department at Flinders University, and Michael Levy, the
population health director at the NSW Corrections Health Service.
There is no vaccine for the virus. But a new treatment, which boosts the
success rate from the present 30 per cent to 60 per cent and is available
in many other Western nations, is languishing without taxpayer subsidy in
Australia.
Labor senator Jan McLucas said it was "unforgiveable" that
Senator Patterson had refused to share the secret report with the public.
"It's simply appalling that she could let this languish in her
in-tray when more people are infected every day."
A spokesman for Senator Patterson said part of the report would be
released next month, while the Government had allocated $16 million to
reduce transmission.
"That's a significant amount of money," he said.
But Ruth Verzeilberg, who contracted the virus from a shared needle while
experimenting with heroin as a teenager, said more effort was needed to
stop the suffering of people like herself.
"We should be doing so much more as a society to stop people
needlessly going through this," she said.
YOUR FEEDBACK
How about a headline that reads: 'Death and crime epidemics lead to drug
law that leads to hep C epidemic'. Now that would be a more honest
summary, though less tasteful to those that would prefer to blame
everything bad on prohibition instead of the drugs themselves.
Or you could try: 'Irresponsible junkies give themselves hep C in spite
of exposure to education programs since childhood'; or how about the
snappier 'Determined druggies keener than customs to catch hep C'.
Dave Edwards
Brisbane, Qld
It is not "inevitable" that anyone of any age will use illegal
drugs and especially not "inevitable" that they would use
intravenous drugs. This type of drug use usually comes at the end of a
long period of experimentation with other types of substance abuse. If
the probability of contracting a deadly disease is part of the package of
intravenous drug use, then that will be one more consideration the drug
user will have to take into account before they inject.
Illegal drug use should not be glamorised, normalised or made
"safe" in any way. There is anecdotal evidence to suggest the
increase in teenage intravenous drug use is related to the ease of
obtaining clean needles, making the injection of drugs appear just that
little bit "safer", just that little bit more glamorous.
The figure of 500,000 cases of Hep C by 2020 probably assumes that the
currently high level of illegal drug use in the community will continue,
but the effects of the "zero tolerance" regime will kick in
long before we reach 500,000 cases of Hep C.
You know that zero tolerance is beginning to work when you get this kind
of hysterical response from parts of the the medical community who by
their well-meaning but ill-considered actions only succeed in
exacerbating the problem.
Margaret Kibble
Sydney, NSW
Drug use is an issue that demonstrates the multi dimensional nature of
the political spectrum. Surely the Liberal Party, which stands for
freedom of the individual, should be for decriminalization of drug use
and especially harm reduction. The old ethos of "drugs are bad"
and "zero tolerance" can't be sustained anymore. If the Liberal
Party continues to upheld an "old-right" attitude of trying to
control individuals to make them adopt certain values against their will,
then I will not be able to vote for them again. I also urge The
Australian to open up debate on this topic.
Michael Gurnik
Adelaide, SA
Australia was one of the first countries to set up clean needle programs
for reducing the harm caused by IV drug use, however there is still a
long way to go. As long as someone like Brian Watters is responsible for
drug reform we will go backwards in dealing with the harms caused by IV
drug use eg. HCV, HBV, HIV, mental health, family and money problems etc.
The government is not open to alternatives to 'tough on drugs' - eg,
prescription heroin, more safe injecting rooms - all measures to reduce
harm. After all, IV users are people with a health issue not criminals,
society has made it this way.
Rodney Nolan
Adelaide, SA
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