Today, 24 February, is International Family Drug Support Day, marking the death 26 years ago of 23-year-old Damien Trimingham from a heroin overdose. Now the charity his father founded, Family Drug Support (FDS), will run a 12-month pilot program for a new drug support service for families and friends of people dependent on drugs and alcohol, funded by the ACT Government.

“We give people information, education, and knowledge about drugs and about how to communicate with people who are using drugs,” Tony Trimingham OAM said. “Our task is to listen and support people, to get them to look after themselves so that they can effectively look after their person who’s using drugs.”

The new service will provide workshops, support groups, one-on-one sessions, and training, and offer FDS’ award-winning course, Stepping Stones. It will, health minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said, be a non-judgemental environment where people can get advice from others with lived experience and expertise.

FDS’ “tried and tested” model uses motivational interviewing, helping people to make their own decisions, Mr Trimingham explained. More than 2,000 people have taken part in 200 Stepping Stones courses, while 20,000 to 30,000 calls are made to the support line every year. Other countries, including the USA, have taken up the model.

FDS has been involved in Canberra for more than 20 years, while local families already make 400 phone calls a year to FDS’ national support line.

“We’re really looking forward to continuing the work that we have done over the years in the ACT, but we will now be able to do so much more of it,” Mr Trimingham said. “This assistance will make a difference to the families here.”

The ACT Government has provided $20,000 for the pilot program. Ms Stephen-Smith said it addressed the gap associated with the stigma of illicit drug and alcohol dependency.

“Nobody wants to see their child, their brother, their sister, their grandchild dependent on illicit drugs,” she said. “Bringing expertise and lived experience to bear so that people feel less alone and can get some really good advice about how they should respond to these circumstances is so important.”

In the 2022–23 Budget, the ACT Government will spend more than $13 million to support the ACT’s alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs services. Under the ACT Drug Strategy Action Plan, the government has committed to a harm minimisation approach to drug use. Last October, they decriminalised the possession of small amounts of illicit drugs. This, Ms Stephen-Smith said, treats drug use as a health issue, not a criminal one; reduces stigma; and enables people to get support from health services.

• ACT Legislative Assembly divided on hard drug decriminalisation (20 October 2022)
• Illicit drugs decriminalised in the ACT (20 October 2022)

Possession of illicit drugs still carries a penalty, and police will continue their strong stance on suppliers and dealers, Ms Stephen-Smith said; the government does not encourage people to experiment or to use illicit drugs.

Mr Trimingham believes the ACT Government should consider prescribing heroin for dependent users, as former Chief Minister Kate Carnell (Liberals) and health minister Michael Moore (independent) suggested in the 1990s. (Then-Prime Minister John Howard vetoed that.)

“We’re not going to end drug use – drug use is going to continue,” Mr Trimingham said. “That’s the reality of it. We don’t condone drug use. [But] It is a fact that people use drugs, and they’re going to go on using drugs. So what we need is strategies that help and support them, and take a compassionate approach rather than a punitive one.”

Mr Trimingham founded FDS in 1997, after his son died. “When I was looking for help, I couldn’t find any,” he reflected. Damien, a champion athlete and a school prefect, “was the sort of person who eventually would have found his way out of his struggles. But when someone passes, there’s no hope.

“Damien’s death is our family’s personal tragedy. It goes on. The bigger tragedy for Australia is that since he died, 26 years ago, 20,000 people at least have died in this country alone – and that’s a major tragedy. That’s something we can do better at.”

• Family Drug Support: https://www.fds.org.au/. Call (24/7): 1300 368 186.