Alcohol and drug support in Canberra is "in crisis", with a chronic lack of funding and inadequate infrastructure hampering chances for people to access help in an already full system, the drug and alcohol sector peak body says.
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Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug Association chief executive Carrie Fowlie has again called on the ACT government to double funding to the sector to meet demand.
"The system is full and cannot meet current demand, let alone future demand. Already between 600 and 700 people access specialist alcohol and other drug services a day in the ACT," she said.
Ms Fowlie also said there was not enough funding for the expected number of people planned for the ACT Supreme Court's drug and alcohol sentencing list in 2020-21 and the criminal justice system should not shift costs to the health system.
"Many specialist alcohol and other drug programs have substantial and unacceptable waiting times or contact lists, particularly residential rehabilitation, day programs and residential withdrawal," she said in a 2020/21 ACT budget submission.
"It is concerning that the services with the longest waiting periods are those that work with people with the greatest severity and complexity of alcohol, tobacco and other drug and other issues."
Ms Fowlie said the criminal justice system should bear the complete cost of providing drug and alcohol services to participants.
"We reiterate the 2017 ACT alcohol, tobacco and other drug sector's position that if the ... drug and alcohol sentencing list wants to have its participants treated in specialist alcohol and other drug services, there needs to be sufficient and specific funding to provide this treatment in its entirety," she said.
Otherwise, there was a risk the cost of providing specialist drug and alcohol services would be shifted to the health system.
"The criminal justice system, despite already being the source of a high proportion of treatment referrals, does not meet the costs of the drug treatment for the people they refer," Ms Fowlie said.
"This is already a form of cost-shifting. Removing a person from custody and expecting them to be supported by the health system ... without fully paying for that support just adds more people to an already overloaded health system that can't meet demand."
Ms Fowlie said the ACT government's investment in specialist services had shown positive results, with levels of substance abuse reduced in 86 per cent of cases and improved general health in 79 per cent of cases.
"The specialist alcohol and other drug service system in the ACT, and nationally, operates within the context of chronic and historical underfunding. The compounding effect of a number of years of resourcing below demonstrated community demand without cost benchmarking has resulted in a significant undersupply of alcohol and other drug treatment," she said.
Ms Fowlie said the sector was unable to meet demand because there was a lack of systematic health service planning.
"Development of an ACT alcohol, tobacco and other drug health services plan would allow the multiple funding agencies that fund alcohol, tobacco and other drug service provision in the ACT to align their existing health service delivery arrangements with the priorities laid out in such a plan, so that needs can be met with the most effective use of available and future resources," she said.
Ms Fowlie in December 2018 also called on the ACT government to double funding to the sector, highlighting a lack of long-term funding certainty.
Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
