Calls are growing for Australia to shift its approach to tackling drug use, moving from jail time to a health-based response.
Aaron Gilhooley was trying to turn his life around when a police officer told him he would never be anything but a drug addict.But years on, after finally accessing treatment, he has defied that police officer's expectations.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has just released data on attitudes and perceptions towards drugs across the nation. Dr Lalor said the drug foundation was calling for all states and territories to fully decriminalise drug use. Shepparton has the highest proportion of people in Victoria who think jail should be the consequence for drug possession.
"You go in as a low-level dealer and some people come out with connections for three, four, even five times what they could think to sell in a week."Dr Lalor believes there is a desperate need for more funding for treatment, which she says is severely limited across the country."It's important, but we know that if we actually flip the system to provide treatment to people who use drugs rather than pushing them into the criminal system, we will have better outcomes.
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