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Drug wars down under: the ill‐fated struggle for safe injecting facilities in Victoria, Australia
Author(s) -
Mendes Philip
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
international journal of social welfare
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1468-2397
pISSN - 1369-6866
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2397.00208
Subject(s) - opposition (politics) , public administration , conservatism , political science , globalization , drug control , state (computer science) , terminology , intervention (counseling) , political economy , sociology , law , medicine , politics , linguistics , philosophy , algorithm , psychiatry , computer science
This article analyses the recent debate over the proposed introduction of safe injecting facilities (SIFs) for heroin users in the State of Victoria. It is argued that this debate strongly reflected the increasing globalisation of national social policy debates. Both supporters and opponents of SIFs drew constant attention to the alleged success or failure of existing SIFs in Europe. In addition, the debate saw the direct intervention of international and global agencies including the International Narcotics Control Board, the American Office of National Drug Policy and the Vatican. Some conclusions are also drawn about the reasons for the failure of the SIF campaign, including the conservatism of the opposition Liberal Party, the influence of the tabloid media and the use of ambiguous terminology.