CREIDU submission to the VAADA consultation on the Proposed Victorian Alcohol and Drug Treatment Principles

The development of principles to guide the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Service System is supported by the Centre for Research Excellence into Injecting Drug Use (CREIDU) based at the Burnet Institute. While we have a particular interest in the service system from the perspective of people who inject drugs, our comments are broader. We believe that the principles need to reflect changes to service delivery that could be expected from a ‘whole of government’ reform. That is, the treatment system must address the issues faced by people who experience alcohol and other drug problems of varying severity, rather than sole (albeit important) focus on serious dependence. Focus just on the serious problem end of the continuum reinforces stereotypes that all people with alcohol and drug problems require specialist care and that it is beyond the scope of practice and expertise of those who are best positioned to intervene (for example, primary health services and others that are in daily contact with people experiencing alcohol and other drug problems).