Page 75 - WHACK35

making, then progress could surely be made on a smaller
scale - in the texture, in the grain and in the realm of
human rights and basic respect.Stigma feeds on itself. If law-
makers write their own, often unconscious, prejudices into
law, stigma is normalised – if not encouraged. If you doubt
that persons in power can be unaware of their own biases,
consider this: At the speech announcing the Victo-
rian Government’s program for elimination of both hep C
and the stigma surrounding it, their representative failed
to mention people who inject drugs (PWID) even once. An
alien visiting from elsewhere in the galaxy could have been N O MAT TE R
forgiven for wondering about the source of this stigma. Are
tattoos taboo on this planet? Or blood transfusions? Hep H OW YOU PUT
C in Australia is the child of unsafe injecting drug use (95% IT, D RUG L AW IN
of new notifications are due to shared injecting equipment)
– this is the reason for the stigma surrounding hep C – yet AUS TR ALIA NE E DS
in a speech about this stigma PWID were not mentioned. AN OVE RHAU L IF WE
Whether the omission was conscious or not, I suspect it
revealed some level of revulsion towards or disapproval of ARE TO S E RI OUS LY
injecting drug use.How will they achieve their stigma goals, AT TE MP T TO
if they cannot bear to name its cause in open discussion?
E LIMINATE THE
Back to the forthcoming inquiry. Wouldn’t it be good for HARM S A SSO CIATE D
all if drug laws were optimised to reduce stigmatisation,
and examined for embedded stigma originating from the WITH D RUG US E .
legislators themselves?

The object of this article is not to make specific suggestions
as to reforms, but to suggest that stigmatising processes be
recognised and redressed.

Let’s remember that recreational pleasure seeking is
universal in humankind. In itself it is no sin. We should be
well past the times when the warping agendas of churches
drove our moral compass. It is only when it causes harm
that we need to set limits.

The stigma surrounding the use of illicit drugs is a nasty
beast. At this particular time in our history it has become
even nastier because it creates a barrier to a life-saving hep
C treatment. The government has recognised this officially
in a policy document. The government, or sections of it
elsewhere in the skein, should be cognisant of this policy Summary
and bear it in mind while formulating and reforming our
drug laws.

PAR L I AM E N TAR Y I N Q U I R Y : S U M MAR Y 75

WHACK35_LYOT.indd 75 11-Oct-16 4:25:45 PM