Ms Niamh Eastwood:

I thank the Deputy. This research, which came out of Australia in the late 1990s, looked at the experiences of people who had been criminalised in one state that continued to criminalise cannabis possession, against those who had been subject to civil sanctions and a criminalised model in another state. It was found that those who had been criminalised had negative outcomes in housing, family relationships and employment, but most important, they were also much more likely to reoffend. A total of 32% of those who had been criminalised reoffended within 18 months, compared with 0% of those who had been subject to civil sanctions. We often talk, therefore, about cannabis possession offences being a gateway into the criminal justice system, increasing the likelihood of reoffending and pushing people further in.

I might also pick up on the previous question, on supply issues, if that is okay. To be clear, our organisation calls for decriminalisation first and foremost. We see the harms every day that are experienced by people who use heroin and crack cocaine, who are the majority of our clients. Criminalisation demonstrably causes worse health outcomes and social outcomes. That is our position and we start with that.

As for the supply market, I could not agree more with Senator Ruane. We often talk in very binary terms about the victim drug user and the demon drug supplier. Most drug suppliers are people who use drugs and they are often our friends or our students. It is less of a pyramid, except when we get into the producer country areas, and much more amorphous. If we want to undermine supply currently, outside of legal regulation for non-medical use, we could do that to some degree with steps such as diamorphine prescribing and the expansion of opiate substitute therapy, OST. We could make sure that for those who are dependent on opiate substances, we could control the reach of the opiate market by providing legal access through a medically prescribed model. There are currently ways, therefore, in which we can reduce the role of the supply market.