By John Van Klaveren
Geelong needs a drug court, according to a parliamentary inquiry into Victoria’s ice epidemic.
The inquiry’s sweeping recommendations included expanding Drug Court of Victoria (DCV) from Dandenong to include Geelong as well as Melbourne and Gippsland.
The court hears cases involving drug or alcohol-dependent defendants charged with committing offences under the influence of drugs or alcohol or to support a habit.
The court was a response to the “failure of traditional criminal justice measures to adequately address drug use and related offending”.
Drug courts have been established in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. Over 2000 drug courts operate throughout all 50 states of the USA as well as in Canada, Ireland, Scotland and England.
The Drug Court focuses on rehabilitating offenders and reintegrating them into their communities.
The inquiry recommended extending DCV’s jurisdiction to hear cases for offences with penalties of up to five years’ imprisonment. The court’s jurisdiction presently covers penalties of up to two years’ jail.
The inquiry also recommended investigating “justice reinvestment” and “therapeutic justice” as alternatives to jail.
“The premise is that scarce resources that would otherwise be invested in corrections infrastructure would be redirected to local communities from where the offenders originate and to which they will undoubtedly return,” the report said.
The concepts were gaining acceptance in the US and United Kingdom, the report said, “due to a perception that imprisonment is an inefficient and wasteful use of scarce public resources”.
The Independent reported last month that community moves to combat the ice scourge in Geelong included a two-day forum to hammer out a strategy to beat the drug.
Ice, or methamphetamine, has increasingly affected communities across Victoria in the past few years. The drug has been linked to rising rates of crime and violence.
Ice-related ambulance calls increased 177 per cent in the past year. Geelong accounted for 20 per cent of calls outside metropolitan Melbourne.
