Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's appropriate that the minister for law enforcement is in the chamber to hear this speech. The use of drugs in Australia costs our economy $4.4 billion a year. This cost is made up of not only the crime aspects but also the health costs of treating people who abuse drugs and the other general economic losses.

In early January, only a street away from my office in Victoria Park, nine backpackers overdosed on prescription medication used to treat motion sickness. These nine youths not only have to deal with the financial costs of their decisions, and rightfully so, but also, hopefully, have learnt a lesson about what the misuse of drugs can do. I would say to the constituents in my electorate, and probably all Australians: if you have a white envelope turn up at your house that's not addressed to you, do not open it. Do not snort it up your nose or swallow it because you think it's some substance that might give you a bit of a lift for a short while. These nine youths all ended up in hospital. If there'd only been four of them, they would have all been dead. So the message is: give it to the police or destroy it, but don't stick it up your nose.

During the nine-month period between November 2015 and July 2016, the Cloud 9 stores in Perth, including the East Victoria Park store in my electorate of Swan, were raided by police, allegedly for selling synthetic cannabis as well as for issues with compliance checks. During these raids, a total of 8.3 kilograms of synthetic drugs was seized across Perth, and the owner of the Cloud 9 stores pleaded guilty to importing over 2,000 glass pipes to be used for smoking methamphetamines.

I applaud the previous state Liberal government for their strong anti-synthetic-drug laws under the Misuse of Drugs Amendment (Psychoactive Substances) Act 2015. This proactive law outright banned all recreational psychoactive drugs and closed loopholes that allowed new types of synthetic drugs to be legal until the law caught up with them. The previous government also enacted laws that made Western Australia the first state in the country to ban the synthetic cannabis drug Kronic and the synthetic drug MDPV, a similar drug to methamphetamine.

In 2016 I became aware of an organisation called Sideffect. Sideffect aims to educate youth and save lives through early intervention. Sideffect was set up by Rodney Bridge, whose son Preston died in 2013 after taking synthetic LSD at an afterparty following his school ball. I believe that that drug was purchased through Silk Road. Rod travelled to China in 2015 to explore the synthetic drug trade at its source, where the drugs are manufactured under the guise of research chemicals. As a result of Rod's trip to China, the Chinese government cracked down on the manufacturing of these drugs, with 116 products banned from being manufactured in China and 27,000 people charged. The work of Rod has been vital in reducing the amount of synthetic drugs manufactured in China and, in turn, smuggled to the rest of the world.

Rod has since dedicated his time to Sideffect alongside the former CEO of Greyhounds WA, David Hobbs, and former West Coast Eagles player Chris Waterman. This organisation seeks to educate those most at risk of taking synthetic drugs about the harms of synthetic drug use, particularly in schools and rural towns, where drug use is common. We have seen overseas that education plays an important role in fighting the scourge of drugs in our community, and Sideffect is at the forefront of educating those most susceptible to drug use. Last year, Sideffect launched its drug awareness campaign in Western Australia and received support through the community for its work. This included support from schools and from businesses like the ABN Group and Rio Tinto, as well as the Master Builders Association. In the sporting world, there was excellent feedback and some collaboration developing with the West Coast Eagles.

Rod, David and the team are now in the process of launching the orange card program. The orange card program is the first of its kind in Australia. It is an online drug awareness and education platform. The objectives of the program are based around creating a safer work environment by educating employees on the harms of synthetic drug use. The objective would lead to less drug use, therefore creating an environment less likely to be at risk of workplace accidents and in turn reducing the amount of workers compensation, insurance claims and premiums.

I could go on, and I've got some more to deal with, but I'm sure I'm going to catch up with the minister for law enforcement, because these programs are fantastic. They want it to become like a white card so that you can't go on a construction site until you have an orange card as well. Unfortunately, at the moment, they have received no support from any level of government in Australia. I think it's a program that well deserves it.