Meth health funding crystallises for ACON

The Federal Government has given $313,000 to ACON to improve services for drug and alcohol and mental health problems in the gay community, with a focus on crystal users.
The funding will allow the community health organisation to hire a full-time counsellor in addiction and mental health issues in Sydney and a part-time counsellor in the Hunter.
GLBT sensitivity training for drug and alcohol centres has also been included in the grant.
ACON’s drug and alcohol services manager Nicki Bath said it was great that programs could now be developed, but they wouldn’t hit the community overnight.
All drugs, but particularly crystal, is where we need to be targeting this new money. That’s been identified in research and it’s what the community has been requesting, Bath said.
She said material would be developed for the health body’s website so that friends, families and partners of people with these issues would have information as well.
Wentworth MP Malcolm Turnbull was given a presentation by ACON on its work in the community after the grant announcement.
This is the first occasion that ACON has received Australian government funding and I will continue to fight for government support for ACON and its activities, Turnbull said.
Although the funding over three years is much smaller than the $7.5 million from NSW Health for HIV programs, ACON CEO Stevie Clayton said it was a start and the organisation would increasingly look to the Commonwealth for grants on drug and ageing issues.
When entering a relatively new area of work and you don’t yet have the runs on the board, it’s easier to get a smaller grant first and then prove your worth, Clayton said.
In recent times, some non-government organisations have been directed to cease advocacy work as part of federal funding, but Clayton said that wasn’t the case for ACON.
It’s going to create some tensions for us, but we’re certainly not going to back away from being critical when that criticism’s warranted. We’ll just need to be cautious in the way we go about doing it, she said.
She said the GLBT Health Alliance would also be able to shoulder much of the advocacy role in the future.
The Government has also recently targeted the gay community with its anti-crystal advertising campaign.