Canberra's drug treatment services are set to finally receive an extra $2.8 million to help meet growing demand, almost two years after the federal government announced the money.
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While the funds were originally announced in December 2015, as part of the government's National Ice Action Taskforce, the money has now actually reached the services.
The funds will go to a number of local services including Karralika and CatholicCare to deliver counselling and support to Canberrans, including corrections clients, who cannot currently access support.
It comes amid rising demand for drug treatment services in Canberra, and at a time when the territory government appears not to have a current alcohol tobacco and drug strategy in place.
Some of the funds will also go to Gugan Gulwan, to provide more indigenous-specific support to young Canberrans and fund an Aboriginal worker at the Canberra Alliance for Harm Minimisation and Advocacy to deliver more indigenous-specific services.
The funding forms part of the governments $241 million in extra funding for treatment services nationally, which Liberal Senator Zed Seselja said would provide "much-needed services" to people in Canberra who were grappling with ice addiction and substance misuse.
It follows the primary health network commissioning the Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Association ACT to complete a "needs assessment" of drug treatment services in Canberra.
That assessment showed there was a shortage of specialist alcohol and other drug counselling services in the ACT, compared with demand, and a much lower occurrence of episodes of care than other parts of Australia.
CHN chief executive Gaylene Coulton said the package would help people receive more immediate intervention and long-term support for substance use disorders, ranging from methamphetamine addiction to prescription opioid addictions.
Ms Coulton said a 2015 survey of treatment service users found one in four people accessing alcohol and drug treatment services in Canberra were indigenous, despite First Australians only representing about two per cent of the ACT's total population.
"Therefore part of this package is enabling local organisations to deliver indigenous-specific AOD services to clients and also to work with service providers in the AOD sector to ensure the services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients are culturally sensitive," said Ms Coulton.
ATODA ACT's Carrie Fowlie said the sector was pleased to see the funding announced in December 2015 had now resulted in on the ground treatment services.
"ATODA is encouraged that need of Canberrans have been responded to, especially by providing more drug and alcohol counselling services - this means that more people can get treatment while still living at home, maintaining employment and family commitments," she said.
