Drug addicts dying in care
By PAULA BEAUCHAMP, social trends reporter
16jun03
VICTORIA is facing a drug crisis with recovering addicts dying on government-funded programs and teenagers becoming heroin addicts while in care.
Agencies say three recovering drug addicts have died in the past four weeks in government-funded drug recovery programs. One was not found for several days.
The Department of Human Services admits there were two deaths in the past month and four deaths in supported accommodation in the past year.
Agencies that run the programs warn the system is grossly underfunded, with supported accommodation in crisis and lives at risk.
DHS director of drugs policy and services Paul McDonald said supported accommodation was only to be offered to recovering drug addicts after detoxification and residential rehabilitation.
But agencies say they are often forced to bypass intensive treatment programs and send the most vulnerable people into houses with inadequate support.
In some cases, one worker may look after as many as 10 clients in five supported accommodation houses spread throughout the community.
Odyssey House chief executive David Crosbie said a lack of funding put lives at risk and added to prison bed and crime costs.
A Premier's Drug Prevention Council report estimates the heroin hit to the Victorian economy costs $845 million a year.
"Many people are still shaking when they get into supported accommodation," Mr Crosbie said. "They don't get on-call support, and there is only limited support from nine to five.
"If people don't get intensive treatment, the chances of making a lasting change is low."
On average, people at Odyssey House have been through detoxification six times.
Victorian Alcohol and Drugs Association chief executive Carol Bennett said the system failed recovering addicts.
"Victoria's funding of residential rehabilitation beds is the lowest per capita in the country," she said.
About two years ago, three people on a waiting list at one agency died waiting for a bed.
The agency was forced to get funding from business for an interim program to keep clients alive, a chief executive said.
Youth Substance Abuse Service chief executive David Murray said problems were also created by conflicts in the system.
"People relapse a lot. One of the key problems in exercising our duty of care is to have access to the houses where people are living," he said. "We must have a key, but under legislation we are not allowed to have one.
"It's a worry. With drug use, you are always looking around the corner, wondering if someone is going to overdose."
The State Opposition accused the Government of scrimping on drug treatment programs by allocating just 1 per cent of the total health budget.
In the state's residential care units teenagers are becoming addicted to drugs.
The parents of three children have told the Herald Sun of drug addictions -- including marijuana and heroin -- developed in the state's care. Their children range in age from 11 to 15.
Opposition community services spokeswoman Helen Shardey said children becoming heroin addicts in the state's care was a grave indictment on the Government.
From:
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,6601573%5E2862,00.html
