The ACT Government takes a ‘harm minimisation’ approach, which considers the health, social and economic consequences of drugs and alcohol on individuals, families, and communities.

We are developing our next ACT Drug Strategy Action Plan to minimise harm from alcohol tobacco and other drugs, including illicit drugs and illicitly used pharmaceutical drugs.

This work will help build a safe, healthy and resilient Canberra community by reducing drug-related harms experienced by individuals, families and communities.

The draft Action Plan outlines our priorities to address harms from alcohol, tobacco and other drugs (ATOD) over the next four years.

• Promoting and maintaining equitable access to treatment and support
• Changing systems and protecting people from harm
• Strengthening supports for people with co-occurring and complex needs
• Reducing involvement with the criminal justice system
• Valuing peer support workers and people with lived experience

The draft ACT Drug Strategy Action Plan 2022-2026 (the Action Plan) will replace the now-concluded 2018-21 Drug Strategy Action Plan. The Action Plan aligns with the National Drug Strategy 2017-2026.

The NDS serves as the overarching national strategy to limit the negative effects of alcohol, tobacco and drugs in our communities by reducing supply, demand and harms – known as the three pillars of harm minimisation:

• Demand reduction – to prevent uptake and delay in first use, reduce harmful use and support people to recover.
• Supply reduction – to restrict availability and access to alcohol, tobacco and other drugs to prevent and reduce problems.
• Harm reduction – to encourage safer behaviours and reduce preventable risk factors.

In line with this approach, each state and territory is responsible for coordinating priority local actions to deliver harm minimisation outcomes.

The Action Plan aims to communicate government priorities both to the ATOD sector and the broader community.

It includes information on:

• government commitments
• current activities that are in their early stages
• future intentions

It does not capture all routinely delivered services and activities. It does describe some activities that are new initiatives under development or in their early stages.

The National Drug Strategy is a 10 year plan and this Action Plan will guide the actions of ACT Health and other ACT Government directorates over the remaining four years of the National Drug Strategy.

The list of proposed actions indicates alignment to specific priority areas and objectives tailored to the ACT, based on the ‘pillars’ of the National Drug Strategy, and in consideration of other relevant ACT Government strategic documents.

A monitoring and evaluation framework will track and report progress. This will be developed after the Action Plan has been finalised.

For more details you can read about How the Action Plan was developed.

We want to hear from Canberrans on the Action Plan's scope, priorities and activities.

The ACT Drug Strategy Action Plan aims to:

• Minimise the harms related to alcohol, tobacco and other drugs to the Canberra community
• Improve the health and wellbeing of the Canberra community, and
• Reduce stigma experienced by people impacted by alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.

We want to hear from all sectors of the community including:

• people with lived experience and their families
• peer support workers
• groups involved with drug and alcohol support.

There are a number of ways for you to have your say on the Action Plan below, but first you should read the draft ACT Drug Strategy Action Plan 2022-2026 and what to include in your submission.

Feedback closed on 24 October 2022.

We will use your submission together with other feedback we have received through our consultation to inform the final development stages of the Action Plan.

Your feedback will guide the ACT Government's priorities to address and minimise harms from alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs and non-medical use of pharmaceuticals in the Territory from 2022 to 2026.

It will help identify gaps in the Action Plan or additional actions to meet community needs.

Disclaimer

Please note the ACT Health Directorate retains the right to withhold input from publication if it believes that the content is defamatory, offensive, contravenes anti-discrimination or anti-vilification law or otherwise breaches any law.

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Any personal information received during your submission will be used only for the purpose of this community engagement process.

Names of organisations may be included in any subsequent consultation report, but all individuals will be deidentified unless prior approval is gained