AND WE WONDER WHO IS QUEER? Some thoughts from the father of a narcotics addict... ----------------------------------------------------------------- S'funny old world eh? You have cancer, d'you get a lawyer to fix it? You need a bypass, d'you get a member of the Trades and Labor Council to fix it? Your giving birth, d'you get an accountant to fix it? Your child needs their tonsils out, d'you get your local council to fix it? You need a blood transfusion, d'you get your local church to fix it? You have an addiction problem, and every prick on the planet says anybody BUT a physician must fix it - by denying treatment!!!!!! Perhaps there's an appeal here for some bright lawyer. Take it to the high court. Who else but a physician is qualified to bloody fix an addiction issue? And what does the medical profession recommend as a regime for narcotics addiction? I can guess that its a proposal a little better than the Camel we have issuing from the halls of parliaments... So many X (being the unknown factor) SPERTS (being drips under pressure). =================================================== On 8 Feb 99, at 9:41, Trudy and Rod Bray wrote about [recoznet2] News item on Caroline Lane: > The Sydney Morning Herald > > Workers call for heroin overhaul > > Date: 08/02/99 > > By DAMIEN MURPHY > > Health workers in the dumped Caroline Lane needle exchange service in > Redfern have called for radical changes to the Government's > drug policy. > > The call came in a Health Department review released yesterday. > > Staff have raised the need for safe injecting rooms, controlled heroin > trials and highlighted the lack of detoxification, treatment and > rehabilitation, especially for young drug users. > > The review followed a decision by the Minister for Health, Dr Refshauge, > to suspend the Caroline Lane service after a newspaper > published photos on January 31 of a 16-year-old injecting drugs. > > In response to the review's findings, Dr Refshauge yesterday announced > new services for drug users in Redfern. > > They include a mobile drug and alcohol unit run by the Kirketon Road > Centre, the Redfern Aboriginal Legal Service and the Central > Sydney Health Service. > > The unit will offer counselling, referral, treatment and a needle > exchange program. It will be purpose-built and staffed by experts and > Aboriginal community representatives. > > Dr Refshauge said although the review found no breach of guidelines in > needle syringe programs, it was inappropriate to continue without > appropriate facilities. He said there had also been incidents when boxes > of syringes had been left unattended. > > "Clearly it would have been inappropriate to re-open the Caroline Street > service," Dr Refshauge said. > > However the Opposition spokeswoman on health, Mrs Jillian Skinner, said > the Government had known about problems with the Caroline > Lane service since 1996 and had done nothing. > > "This latest move does nothing to address the basic need to help people > get free from the addiction," she said. > > The review said the Caroline Street Needle and Syringe Service, in what > is popularly called The Block in Redfern, was one of the busiest > in NSW, with 6,000 clients using an average 38,000 needles and syringes > a month. > > Staff on the service said there was a need for safe injecting rooms, > controlled heroin trials and more places on methadone programs. > > In the report, the director of health services, Dr Greg Stewart, and the > director of the Kirketon Road Centre, Dr Ingrid van Beek, said > there were many problems with the previous Caroline Street program. Two > major concerns were that the program had used a car as the > needle exchange point and there had been no access to running water. > > "There is no evidence that staff have breached department policies and > procedures in this instance," they said. > > "However there may be a perception of conflict between the operating > procedures for the needle and syringe program and government > policies relating to child protection." > > This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying > or mirroring is prohibited. > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 > To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body > of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce > This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission >from the > copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under >the "fair > use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further >without > permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." > Tra, ------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use."
