❓ Mr. Katsambanis asks the Premier about the timeline for implementing mandatory meth rehabilitation treatment, citing desperate families. The Premier responds that they are awaiting results from a NSW trial before committing to a WA trial, emphasising the importance of individual desire for recovery.
AnsweredQoN 1002Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
METHAMPHETAMINE ––
MANDATORY REHABILITATION TREATMENT
1002. Mr P.A. KATSAMBANIS to the Premier:
I have a supplementary question. As
the member knows, parents and families all across the state are crying out for this mandatory meth rehabilitation treatment that
the Premier promised to deliver. They are crying out for it because they
are watching their children's lives being destroyed. Can the Premier
give them some indication, given his answer to my initial question, of when we
can expect to see that part of the program that he said he was looking at
introducing so that those families and parents can actually get on with their
lives and save their children?
The SPEAKER : Before the
Premier answers that, it has to be short and sharp, and from the answer that
the Premier has given or the question that was asked––not an
oration.
MANDATORY REHABILITATION TREATMENT
1002. Mr P.A. KATSAMBANIS to the Premier:
I have a supplementary question. As
the member knows, parents and families all across the state are crying out for this mandatory meth rehabilitation treatment that
the Premier promised to deliver. They are crying out for it because they
are watching their children's lives being destroyed. Can the Premier
give them some indication, given his answer to my initial question, of when we
can expect to see that part of the program that he said he was looking at
introducing so that those families and parents can actually get on with their
lives and save their children?
The SPEAKER : Before the
Premier answers that, it has to be short and sharp, and from the answer that
the Premier has given or the question that was asked––not an
oration.
AnswerView source ↗
I may have made an error before. As
I understand it, we are spending $244 million on meth initiatives to deal with
the problem across Western Australia.
As I outlined in my first answer,
from memory, there is a trial of some sort of compulsory rehabilitation going
on in New South Wales. We have committed some money towards working on a trial
here, subject to the results of the New South Wales trial. We want to see what
works or what has the prospect of working before such time as we direct money
towards it. All I would say, as I have said before and as I think anyone
sensible who knows anything about addiction would tell us, is that the best
prospect of getting someone off a drug or substance is for the person to want
to get off it. They have to want to get off it. Whenever we meet someone in
this situation, they will say, ''I went years not wanting to deal with
it or denying that I had a problem. It was only when I acknowledged I had a problem
and I decided in myself that I'd hit rock bottom that I had a prospect
of getting off it.'' Most of us have family members who have been in
that position. That is what we work towards with our meth rehabilitation
prison. For instance, when I went to Wandoo with the Minister for Corrective
Services and met the women there, to a person they said, ''We knew when
we got locked up and separated from our children that we had to get off the
drug.'' They realised they wanted to get off it. That is why the meth
rehabilitation prison seems to be having significant success. We will watch the
New South Wales trial with interest. That is the approach we are taking.
I understand it, we are spending $244 million on meth initiatives to deal with
the problem across Western Australia.
As I outlined in my first answer,
from memory, there is a trial of some sort of compulsory rehabilitation going
on in New South Wales. We have committed some money towards working on a trial
here, subject to the results of the New South Wales trial. We want to see what
works or what has the prospect of working before such time as we direct money
towards it. All I would say, as I have said before and as I think anyone
sensible who knows anything about addiction would tell us, is that the best
prospect of getting someone off a drug or substance is for the person to want
to get off it. They have to want to get off it. Whenever we meet someone in
this situation, they will say, ''I went years not wanting to deal with
it or denying that I had a problem. It was only when I acknowledged I had a problem
and I decided in myself that I'd hit rock bottom that I had a prospect
of getting off it.'' Most of us have family members who have been in
that position. That is what we work towards with our meth rehabilitation
prison. For instance, when I went to Wandoo with the Minister for Corrective
Services and met the women there, to a person they said, ''We knew when
we got locked up and separated from our children that we had to get off the
drug.'' They realised they wanted to get off it. That is why the meth
rehabilitation prison seems to be having significant success. We will watch the
New South Wales trial with interest. That is the approach we are taking.
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