More drug deaths could be an unintended consequence of the Digital Duty of Care Bill

Penington Institute has warned that the Digital Duty of Care Bill could in fact increase harms for those it is meant to protect.

The issue at play is the Section 25C(1)(k) of the proposed bill which prohibits “material or content that encourages, promotes, urges or instructs illicit drug use.”

Penington Institute cautioned that this could prevent the publication and dissemination of education material that helps people and their families avoid or reduce harms posed by illicit drug use.

This includes, for example, information on how to prevent an overdose, encouraging people to use state and territory-funded drug checking services, and education on the importance of using sterile equipment and not sharing needles. Notices about contaminated batches of illicit drugs in circulation, such as the recent spate of heroin found in cocaine samples in Victoria and the ACT, could also be affected.

“While we appreciate the intent of Section 25C is to protect Australians from drug-related harms, we do not believe that social media networks will differentiate between education content designed to make people safer and content that urges illicit drug use”, said Penington Institute’s CEO John Ryan OAM.

“Legislation or regulation that increases the financial and legal risk to digital platforms from hosting harm reduction content would most likely result in an even more conservative approach to content censorship. It would be easier and less risky for digital platforms to censor all content that could be considered a violation, including public health and content to reduce harm”, Ryan said.

Penington Institute also pointed out that the final report on the Inquiry into the Health Impacts of Alcohol and Other Drugs in Australia recently tabled by the Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability recommended that the Australian Government “invest in the scaling of digital models-of-care that can provide evidence-based prevention and early intervention services for alcohol and other drugs.”

John Ryan OAM said, “it will be increasingly difficult to provide evidence-based prevention and early intervention services for alcohol and other drugs if this information is censored online.”

“7 people in Australia die everyday from overdose. We urge the government to remove clause 25C(1)(k) from the exposure draft and ensure future reforms in this area do not unintentionally hinder vital efforts by Australian organisations and people to reduce drug-related harm in our communities”, said Ryan.

ENDS