EMERGENCY ACTION IN RESPONSE TO THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC

COVID-19 demands action and provides the opportunity to get the most disadvantaged and needy out of prisons.

FFDLR CALLS FOR

1.The establishment of clinics in the community providing Heroin Assisted Treatment which would:

  • reduce the flow into the prison of people suffering from opiate dependency who have failed existing pharmacotherapies like methadone;
  • Facilitate the early release of detainees from the overcrowded prisons;

Added important benefits would be the:

  • virtual elimination of accidental overdose deaths;
  • stabilisation of many detainees suffering from co-occurring mental health problems; and
  • reduction in drug-related crime.

2. Other reforms to drug policy concerning misuse of other drugs that would promote justice reinvestment and further reduce the risk factors of poor health and disadvantage that explain the high prevalence of indigenous incarceration.

3. A national forum to consider and recommend other changes to drug policy that promote health and well-being.

Full paper here

For detailed back ground paper see here