Time for Change Survey and Report

23 Figure 6. Agreeance with establishing new drug consumption rooms, including supervised injecting facilities, where there is a demonstrated community need Recommendation #5 We recommend that the Australian Government shows national policy leadership on the importance of safe injecting facilities/drug consumption rooms to reduce negative attitudes at local and community levels, and that all state/territory governments fund and implement safe injecting facilities/drug consumption rooms where there is a demonstrated need in the community. We further recommend that all state and territory governments investigate new and more cost-effective models for the provision of safe injecting facilities/drug consumption rooms. Needle and syringe programs in prisons Support for the establishment of needle and syringe programs (NSPs) in prisons was high at 78.7%, with 11.2% of people reporting that they were “neutral”, and only 9.2% disagreeing or strongly disagreeing. Currently there are no NSPs in Australian prisons, despite other countries implementing these programs. Support was highest among students and/or young people (86.3%), closely followed by professionals (86.2%), people who use drugs (86.1%), and friends of someone who uses drugs (84.9%), with slightly lower support from family members of people who use drugs (74.7%; see Figure 7). Support varied significantly across ages, states/territories, genders, and identities: ● Support was significantly higher among people aged 35 and younger and people aged 36 to 55, compared with those aged 56 and older. No significant difference was observed between those aged 35 and younger and those aged 36 to 55. ● Support was also significantly higher among people who use drugs, professionals, friends of people who use drugs, or students and/or young people.