Mr Peter Abetz, Member for Southern RiverI read with interest your editorial (Stolen Scripts Just a Symptom, October edition) in which you make points relating to the Education and Health Standing Committee report Changing Patterns in Illicit Drug Use in Western Australia.

I am very familiar with this report as I serve on the committee that produced it, and I have taken a keen interest in drug rehabilitation work for many years, including running a drug rehab support group for recovering addicts and their families.

You neglected to say why the report recommended freezing of funding (Recommendation 13) to the Fresh Start Recovery Program that uses naltrexone implants to treat heroin addicts. The reason is very important.

One of the conditions of some special funding provided to the Fresh Start Recovery Program in 2009-10 was for Fresh Start to agree to a Drug and Alcohol Office appointed person conducting a Research and Data Review, and a Service and Clinical Review. Fresh Start welcomed these conditions and gave every co-operation to the Drug and Alcohol Office.

The Drug and Alcohol Office dragged its feet for over 18 months before appointing the persons to conduct these reviews.

Recommendation 13 simply expressed the committee’s view that the reviews which the Drug and Alcohol Office was to conduct needed to be done urgently, and until that work was done, no further funding should be made available.

Given that Fresh Start does the lion’s share of rehab in WA, we knew that if Fresh Start would not get any funding, the Drug and Alcohol Office would not be able to cope with the demand on its services. Thus we hoped our recommendation would put pressure on DAO to fulfill their obligation that flowed from the special grant given to Fresh Start in 2009/10. And it appears to have been effective, as the Research and Data Review is now complete, and the Service and Clinical Review is underway and expected to be completed later this year.

I would not like your editorial statement to be misinterpreted as meaning our committee had serious doubts about the value/effectiveness or professional quality of the services rendered by the Fresh Start Program. That would not be correct.

Ed. The full report, published in May this year, can be seen at www.parliament.wa.gov.au/publications/ by Googling the report name. Spokespeople from the Drug & Alcohol Office were invited to respond.