Three of the most
disliked groups just may be banks, dole bludgers and addicts. Worth noting the
governments hit list with this latest budget
All the conversation I
have heard so far this week seems to be about finger-pointing and demonizing drug users
who may or may not be addicts or mental health dual diagnosis patients. We need
to clear our thinking here – we are talking about the unemployed not “known
drug users avoiding work and breaking rules”. Firstly we must spare a thought
for these many thousands of guinea pig Australians who have found themselves in
financial crisis after loosing their jobs. As an Australian, when this happens
we have the right to support through Centrelink – now that is packaged with the
instant assumption that you are a drug addict and you are subjected to the
indignity of urinating in front of a stranger to prove otherwise... what
happened to our rights here?
For those few
individuals who will record positive drug tests (expensive process - who's paying for that in the budget Mr Turn-dill) there are
more subgroups – casual users and those with mental health issues related to
addiction and/or other mental health issues. Those of us working in the
substance abuse and mental health areas understand that treatment of substance
abuse and mental health disorders is complicated by the fact that alcohol or
drugs are often used by mental health consumers to alleviate the stresses of
their mental illness, history of trauma and abuse, social dislocation and
distress. The government itself has
noted that dual diagnosis is the 'expectation not the exception' yet here we go again going for the soft
target – trawling through the unemployed looking for the bludgers. Statistical
evidence confirms that substance abuse among those with mental health problems
is pervasive (2007 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing).
The co-occurrence of
drug dependence and mental health disorders is widespread and is associated
with higher levels of hospitalisation, incarceration, suicide, homicide,
housing instability and homelessness, unemployment and financial difficulties,
and lower treatment compliance People with co-morbid conditions experience high
levels of unemployment. At the same time, they are least able to meet
Centrelinks newstart and even disability payment requirements, because these
services do not comprehensively assess or take into account the extent of the
debilitation caused by these behavioural and mental disorders.
Very frequently these unemployed
and other marginalised people are depressed, have great difficulty in personal
contact, and lack confidence in their own capacity to relate to other people or
indeed to initiate contact with them. To implement these new proposed income
support arrangements will not encouraging people back to work and I have no
doubt they will increase mental health issues, crime, homelessness and a host
of other “unexpected consequences” for both the individual, services and
community. Who in Centerlink will be
trained to the standard necessary in order to identify these hard to diagnose,
hard to treat people - the diagnostic profile of AOD and dual diagnosis cohorts
are known to be difficult and unreliable patients by definition.
PS This has been proven to NOT WORK in many other countries including US.
It will not save money - IT WILL COST MONEY
It will humiliate even further the 98% of Centrelink applicants who DO NOT USE DRUGS.
Aly Birmingham Geats
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Former_Committees/mentalhealth/report/c14
