Tasmania's future politicians yesterday backed a Northern school's proposal for safe injecting rooms for drug addicts. The 13th annual YMCA Youth Parliament, which was officially opened yesterday, voted in favour of a motion put forward by Launceston Church Grammar School representatives to support State Government-run safe injecting rooms. In an emotion-charged debate, Launceston Church Grammar School student Alex Frain, 15, urged the Youth Parliament to support safe injecting rooms. "We think the Government needs to take a more proactive stance on harm minimisation for drug addicts in the State, and while they provide money for drug programmes, they need to take the next step," Miss Frain said. [continues 101 words]
"Doctor shopping' is costing the Tasmanian health system millions of dollars every year, according to State pharmacists. Pharmacy Guild of Australia Tasmania branch president Jerry Hampton said yesterday that doctor shopping, in which people go from doctor to doctor for potent prescription drugs such as pethidine and morphine, was quite prevalent in Tasmania. Between 4 and 6 per cent of the population indulged in the practice. Mr Hampton said that a nation-wide trial involving 15 Tasmanian pharmacies, which used computer registration of drugs dispensed to give real-time data on who was presenting prescriptions for drugs of concern in doctor shopping, had been very successful. [continues 246 words]
