GDN 3987: Analyzing Healthcare and Drug Policies in Australia

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of healthcare policies in Australia, with a particular focus on drug-related strategies and legal frameworks. It begins by defining illicit drugs and highlighting the concerning trends in drug consumption within the country. The essay then delves into the historical development of drug policies in Australia, examining restrictive measures, national campaigns like NCADA, and the evolution of the National Drug Strategy (NDS). It also discusses various legal frameworks governing drug use and supply, including prohibition, depenalization, decriminalization, and legalization. Furthermore, the analysis extends to the "Tough on Drugs" policy and the National Drug Strategic Framework, emphasizing harm reduction interventions and strategic plans aimed at minimizing drug-related harm. The essay concludes by underscoring the importance of these policies in addressing the serious public health issue of illicit drug consumption in Australia. Desklib offers a wealth of resources, including similar essays and study materials, to aid students in their academic pursuits.

Running head: HEALTHCARE POLICY
HEALTHCARE POLICY
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1HEALTHCARE POLICY
Introduction
The consumption of illicit drugs is illegal in Australia and even harmful for the people
who are consuming it. Illicit drugs is defined as a substance or ingredient that either inhibit or
stimulate the central nervous system (CNS) of an individual and result in a hallucinogenic
effects, which is considered as extremely harmful for an individual. The manufacturing of
illicit drugs takes place in an isolated lab area or backyard lab and the people consuming it
are unaware of the composition and the side effect that the drug will have on their physical
and mental health condition, hence, it result in certain adverse events (Coomber et al., 2019).
This study will revolve around the parliamentary drug conference, which is detained by the
Australian Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy and Law Reform and the establishment of
drug policy modification within Australia. Australia has different variety of drug policy and
program, which has been developed and practiced over years. The drug policy comprises of
different policy framework that is produced and managed by the expert committee in order to
deliver a standard guidelines for the pharma industry, who are responsible for circulating the
drug within the general population (Ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au, 2019).
Drug trend and statistics in Australia
The National drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS) has gathered all the relevant
information and data regarding the consumption of illegal drug, tobacco and alcohol within
the common population of Australia. The rate of illicit drug consumption in Australia was 3.1
million in 2016 and the most commonly used illicit drug during that time period was cannabis
that was consumed with other additional pharmaceuticals, ecstasy and cocaine. The rate of
crystal methamphetamine (ice) consumption was increased that was the major threat among
the population, as the severity of harm and risk is more in ice as compared to the
methamphetamine. The rising rate of drug consumption is gaining attention of the

2HEALTHCARE POLICY
government and therefore different types of drug policies are established in Australia that will
majorly aim to reduce the rate of illicit drug consumption (Australian Government
Department of Health, 2019).
Development of drug policy in Australia
Australia is considered as one of the principal countries who have identified strategies
to approve the initial international drug conventions and the succeeding drug conventions of
the League of Nations in United States. Different varieties of drug policies were developed
and established in Australia that will focus to reduce the consumption of illicit drug and also
smuggling of the drugs (Hughes et al., 2017). During the initial period of 1960’s, Restrictive
drug policy was established and implemented that aimed to reduce the production as well as
the consumption of illicit drugs. Penalty system associated with drug policy and procedure
were imposed on the population of Australia through the time-period of 1970. Even after the
setup of the drug policies the rate of drug consumption was not reducing at an expected rate
therefore, in order to re-equilibrate the drug polices, the government of Australia has initiated
and established National Illicit Drugs Strategy “Tough on Drugs” that will have the string
perspective towards law enforcement and deliver control and power without reducing or
hampering any demand reduction determination (Nationaldrugstrategy.gov.au, 2019).
Different legal frameworks governing the use and supply of drugs
There are different types of legal frameworks that are governed for the use and supply of
illicit drugs are as follows (Ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au, 2019):
 Full Prohibition- Full prohibition comprise of drug consumption, ownership and
supply of illegal drugs that will be considered as the criminal offence.
 Depenalisation- The drug consumption and ownership is considered as the criminal
offence but with little less strictness as compared to the supply of drugs.

3HEALTHCARE POLICY
 Decriminalisation- It includes elimination of criminal charges against drug
consumption and ownership.
 Legalisation- The consumption of drug is considered as legal associated with supply
of drugs.
Restrictive anti-drug policies in the 20th century
The legislation has initiated the development and empowerment of different drug
policy during the 19th century and at the federal level the drug development policy was
initiated during 20th century. International drug conventions or agreements was proposed and
accepted within Australia that had focused to reduce the consumption of illicit drug by
implementing different drug law modification (Csete et al., 2016). After the completion of
World-war II, the government of Australia had accepted and implemented all the anti-drug
consumption policies such as The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961) that was
ratified in the year 1967, the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic
Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (1988) that was ratified in the year 1982 and The
Convention on Psychotropic Substances (1971) that was ratified in the year 1992. The federal
legislation had set-up the above drug laws under different treaties namely Narcotic Drugs Act
1967, Psychotropic Substances Act 1976, the Crimes (Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances)Act of 199. Considering the state level jurisdiction, the principal
regulation responsible for drug prevention are Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act, 1985, Drug
Misuse act 1986, Drug Rehabilitation Act 2000 and Drug Court Act 1998 (McBride, Terry &
Vander Waal, 2016) . Even after the set-up of these different drug policies the rate of drug
consumption within Australia has not reduce as the expected rate.
National campaign against drug abuse (NCADA)

4HEALTHCARE POLICY
During the mid-1980’s, Australia had focused on different strategies to assess and
establish the modified drug control policy that will aim to enhance the attention towards the
treatment and prevention of the drug addict. The National Campaign against Drug Abuse
(NCADA) was launched during 1985, which comprised the new drug policy co-ordination.
The primary focus of NCADA was to include the drug consumption as one of the health
concern or issue, as they believed that consuming drug is complex and ever-lasting
phenomena that cannot be completely eradicated from the nation (Ncada.org.sg, 2019).
Hence, the political authorization for drug policy implementation was given to the Federal
Attorney General’s Department to the Federal Department of Health. Under the National
Campaign against Drug Abuse, different law penalties were implemented that will be
imposed to the people who are involved in consumption or smuggling of illicit drugs. Hence,
the Australian drug policy was completely reformed and re-structured in 1980 associated with
the establishment of harm-reduction intervention program. During this campaign different
strategies or steps were considered for improving the co-ordination to reduce the rate of drug
consumption that include policy level corporation and management among the Federal or
Commonwealth Government, the Countries and the Territories, including the association
among the law enforcement and healthcare sectors (Allsop & Hall, 2017).
National Drug Strategy (NDS)
The concern of Australian government was increasing as the rate of drug consumption
was not decreasing as the expected rate and hence, the legislation came up with the novel
National Drug Strategy (NDS), which articulated and circulated from 1993 and was based on
the major recommendation that was highlighted and evaluated in The National Campaign
against Drug Abuse (NCADA). Harm-reduction intervention program was the major goal that
was identified and implemented in this policy and the primary goal established under NDS
stated to minimize or reduce the degree of disease, illness, premature death and injury that is

5HEALTHCARE POLICY
associated with the consumption of illicit drug or alcohol (Blaustein, McLay & McCulloch,
2017). The second goal identified under NDS stated to reduce the severity and impact of the
illegal drug consumption and other related drug-associated crime or violence in the
community. Six different and specific concepts were incorporated under the strategic plan
that was developed and executed under drug policy of Australia in order to reduce the rate of
illicit ad illegal drug consumption. The concepts included under the strategic plan of drug
policy are Social justice, harm minimization, maintaining the supply of illegal drug, inter-
sectoral strategy, international collaboration and evaluation (Www1.health.gov.au, 2019).
National illicit drug strategy "Touch on Drugs"
The rate of illegal drug trafficking and drug consumption was high in Australia,
therefore, the government had primarily focused to reduce the trafficking of illegal drug that
would eventually reduce the rate of drug consumption within Australia. The government of
Australia had launched The National Illicit Drug Strategy “Tough on Drugs” policy that will
focus on the illicit drug consumption as the serious public issue ad concern. The primary
objective of The National Illicit Drug Strategy “Tough on Drugs” policy is to create Australia as
the most challenging target for the illegal drug traffickers (Unodc.org, 2019). The members of
this policy has increased the operational investigation staff members at the Australian Federal
Police and had also focused to improve and modify the law implementation agency
communication associated with best IT capabilities. Harm reduction intervention program was
the major concern of this policy and they have implemented the method of educating different
people residing in various surroundings to gain more knowledge and information regarding the
illicit drug and what are the adverse events that can take place due to the consumption of these
drugs. Interdisciplinary research team was organized who will be responsible for monitoring the
rate of illicit drug consumption in Australia (Lancaster, Duke & Ritter, 2015).
National Drug Strategic Framework

6HEALTHCARE POLICY
The primary role of national drug strategic framework was to maintain the principles
and procedure of the drug policy that was developed in Australia under the national Drug
Strategy (NDS) and also accepted the recommendations that was implemented in the
Mapping the Future: An Evaluation of the National Drug Strategy 1993-97. The focus of the
national drug strategic framework was on harm minimization, which comprise of an
integrated approach to reduce or minimize the consumption of illicit drug. The national Drug
Strategy (NDS) comprise of eight different priority region of practice that are as follows
(Www1.health.gov.au, 2019):
 Enhancing the community's knowledge of drug-associated damage
 Constructing partnerships
 Links with additional approaches
 Supply reduction
 Inhibiting harm and use
 Access towards treatment
 Professional training and education
 Research documents and improvement
Conclusion
The study had focused on different drug action plan and different types of drug policy
that is implemented in Australia to reduce the rate of illegal drug consumption. Illicit drugs is
defined as a substance or ingredient that either inhibit or stimulate the central nervous system
(CNS) of an individual and result in a hallucinogenic effects, which is considered as
extremely harmful for an individual. The trend and rate of drug consumption was increasing
in Australia, hence, the government had initiated various drug policies that would aim to
reduce the drug trafficking and drug consumption within Australia. Different drug policy

7HEALTHCARE POLICY
camping were discussed that had focused on harm-reduction prevention program by
educating the general population of Australia regarding the consumption of illicit drugs and
how these drugs will have an adverse effect on them.

8HEALTHCARE POLICY
References
Allsop, D. J., & Hall, W. D. (2017). International aspects of cannabis use and misuse: the
Australian perspective. In Handbook of Cannabis and Related Pathologies (pp. 101-
109). Academic Press.
Australian Government Department of Health. (2019). Drug trends and statistics. Retrieved 2
August 2019, from https://campaigns.health.gov.au/drughelp/drug-trends-and-
statistics
Blaustein, J., McLay, M., & McCulloch, J. (2017). Secondary harm mitigation: A more
humanitarian framework for international drug law enforcement. International
Journal of Drug Policy, 46, 66-73.
Coomber, K., Mayshak, R., Liknaitzky, P., Curtis, A., Walker, A., Hyder, S., & Miller, P.
(2019). The role of illicit drug use in family and domestic violence in Australia.
Journal of interpersonal violence, 0886260519843288.
Csete, J., Kamarulzaman, A., Kazatchkine, M., Altice, F., Balicki, M., Buxton, J., ... & Hart,
C. (2016). Public health and international drug policy. The Lancet, 387(10026), 1427-
1480.
Hughes, C. E., Ritter, A., Lancaster, K., & Hoppe, R. (2017). Understanding policy
persistence—The case of police drug detection dog policy in NSW, Australia.
International journal of drug policy, 44, 58-68.
Lancaster, K., Duke, K., & Ritter, A. (2015). Producing the ‘problem of drugs’: A cross
national-comparison of ‘recovery’discourse in two Australian and British reports.
International Journal of Drug Policy, 26(7), 617-625
McBride, D. C., Terry-McElrath, Y. M., & VanderWaal, C. J. (2016). Public policy and illicit
drugs. Prevention, Policy, and Public Health, 263-288.

9HEALTHCARE POLICY
Nationaldrugstrategy.gov.au. (2019). Anti-Drug Abuse Campaign 2015. Retrieved 2 August
2019, from
http://www.nationaldrugstrategy.gov.au/internet/drugstrategy/publishing.nsf/
Content/FD973BE3A786C9B0CA257682000E70DC/$File/eval14.pdf
Nationaldrugstrategy.gov.au. (2019). The National Drug Strategy as a policy framework.
Retrieved 2 August 2019, from
http://www.nationaldrugstrategy.gov.au/internet/drugstrategy/publishing.nsf/
Content/FD973BE3A786C9B0CA257682000E70DC/$File/eval14.pdf
Ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au. (2019). Australia’s recreational drug policies aren’t working, so
what are the options for reform? | NDARC - National Drug and Alcohol Research
Centre. Retrieved 2 August 2019, from https://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/blog/australias-
recreational-drug-policies-arent-working-so-what-are-options-reform
Ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au. (2019). The Australian (illicit) Drug Policy Timeline 1985 - 2016 |
NDARC - National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre. Retrieved 2 August 2019,
from https://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/resource/australian-illicit-drug-policy-timeline-
1985-2015%20
Unodc.org. (2019). Drug policy and Results in Australia. Retrieved 2 August 2019, from
https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/Studies/Drug_Policy_Australia_
Oct2008.pdf
Www1.health.gov.au. (2019). Department of Health | 7.1 Overview of current national drug
policies and programs. Retrieved 2 August 2019, from
https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/drugtreat-
pubs-front5-fa-toc~drugtreat-pubs-front5-fa-secb~drugtreat-pubs-front5-fa-secb-
7~drugtreat-pubs-front5-fa-secb-7-1

10HEALTHCARE POLICY
Www1.health.gov.au. (2019). National Drug Strategy - National Drug Strategic Framework.
Retrieved 2 August 2019, from
https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/drugstrategy/publishing.nsf/Content/national-
drug-strategic-framework-lp