Commissioner who led ice inquiry despairs at total lack of action

The commissioner who led the state’s ice inquiry says a mooted pre-court diversion scheme for drug possession offences would be a “bare minimum” response to his recommendations, as health services expressed their frustration with politics delaying investment in reform and treatment.

In the 28 months since he handed down his recommendations, Professor Dan Howard, SC, said he had not been contacted by a single minister, bureaucrat or other government representative about the 14-month-long, $10.8 million inquiry.

Professor Dan Howard has criticised the NSW government over its inaction on his recommendations from the ice inquiry.

“I hear absolutely nothing from government, which I find quite extraordinary,” he said.

Former premier Gladys Berejiklian commissioned the Special Commission of Inquiry into Methamphetamine Use in November 2018. After Howard delivered 109 recommendations in early 2020, the state government quickly rejected five, including an additional supervised injecting centre and a pill testing trial, promising a “final response” that year.

Last week, Attorney-General Mark Speakman suggested trialling a pre-court drug diversion scheme to give illicit drug users up to two $400 infringements, waived if they undertake a health intervention, before facing a court.

“This is hardly radical – we already have an infringement notice scheme in place for drugs at music festivals, but without health interventions,” Speakman said.

Premier Dominic Perrottet declined to answer questions about cabinet matters on Monday, instead saying his government was “very close to finalising” a response to the inquiry, of which considering diversion “is a component”.

“We’ve spent a lot of time working through all of the recommendations,” he said, adding “these are difficult areas of law”.

Howard expressed concern that political debate over decriminalisation of minor offences – which he said was “the bare minimum of change in drug policy” and commonplace in many other jurisdictions including within Australia – was putting off other changes that formed the bulk of his report.

“I’d hate to think that has been a stumbling block for all the other recommendations,” he said.

The inquiry heard evidence from health and judicial experts as well as emotional testimony from families and communities affected by amphetamine use.

Howard noted the inquiry particularly highlighted issues in Indigenous communities, and he had recommended an urgent need for an entirely separate inquiry into drug use in jail.

“There were so many issues that this report dealt with; it really did provide a blueprint for drug policy in NSW.”

Matt Noffs, chief executive of youth drug and alcohol treatment service the Noffs Foundation, agreed the diversion scheme was “the absolute minimum the government could have done”.

“We are talking about saving lives and we’re also talking about saving a lot of money in the health system in terms of reducing drug hospitalisations,” he said.

Last week, six NSW Health addiction medicine specialists wrote to Perrottet asking for action on the inquiry’s recommendations as delays led to unnecessary deaths and harm.

“COVID has distracted this government, and rightly so, but that doesn’t justify a 2½-year delay,” said Professor Nick Lintzeris, director of drug and alcohol services for South Eastern Sydney Local Health District and one of the signatories of the letter. “An all or nothing response to the ice inquiry has resulted in nothing to date.”

The Bar Association, Law Society of NSW, as well as an alliance of medical colleges and the NSW branch of the Australian Medical Association, have all called for the government to urgently respond to the recommendations.

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