Examining the opinions of people who use drugs towards drug policy in Australia

Abstract

Aims: This study aimed to investigate whether there is heterogeneity of opinion about drug policies amongst people with different experiences of drug use, so as to stimulate discussion about how the diverse perspectives of people who use drugs can be meaningfully included in policy deliberation.

Methods: The views of people who inject drugs were compared with the views of people who regularly use 3,4-methylendioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), using data obtained from two Australian surveys (the Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System and the Illicit Drug Reporting System). Support for drug-related policies (including treatment, harm reduction and drug legalisation) was examined using questions from the National Drug Strategy Household Survey. The extent to which demographic variables and/or drug use experience accounted for differences of opinion amongst the two samples was also explored.

Findings: There were significant differences between the views of IDRS and EDRS participants, about legalisation, and a range of harm reduction and treatment interventions. The heterogeneity in support for the legalisation of different drugs could be accounted for by recent experience of use, over and above demographic differences between people who inject drugs and people who regularly use MDMA.

Conclusions: These findings speak to the diversity of attitudes and experiences amongst people who use drugs, and reinforce the need to better represent a diversity of opinion in drug policy deliberation and challenge stereotypical perceptions which stigmatise people who use drugs.