Compulsory alcoholism treatment in New South Wales

Medicine and Law

Volumn 22, Issue 2, 2003, Pages 311-327

  Webb, M B ^a  

^a Office of the Commissioner   (New Zealand)

Author keywords

Alcoholism; Australia; Compulsory treatment; New South Wales

Indexed keywords

ALCOHOL WITHDRAWAL; ALCOHOLISM; AUSTRALIA; CASE STUDY; CRIMINAL JUSTICE; DETENTION; DETOXIFICATION; HEALTH CARE DELIVERY; HUMAN; INSTITUTIONAL CARE; LAW; MEDICAL RESEARCH; MEDICOLEGAL ASPECT; MENTAL HEALTH; MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE; POLICY; REVIEW; SATISFACTION; SOCIOECONOMICS; TREATMENT OUTCOME;

EID: 0037816205     PISSN: 07231393     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (36)

1. R. W. Fagan and N M Fagan, The impact of legal coercion on the treatment of alcoholism (1982) Journal of Drug Issues, vol 12: 103-112, at 112.
2. P A Galon and R A Liebelt, Involuntary treatment of substance abuse disorders (1997) New Directions for Mental Health Services, vol 75: 35-45. The authors note, howevever, that in states where such laws are absent, it may still be possible for alcoholics to be involuntarily treated under mental health civil commitment statues.
3. Refer, further, to E Beis, State involuntary commitment statutes (1983) Maryland Law Review, vol 7: 358-369;
4. and E J Kermani and R Castaneda, Psychoactive substance use in forensic psychiatry (1996) American Journal of Drug and Alcoholic Abuse, vol 22(1): 1-27, at 11.
5. For example, see the contributions in the special section on "Compulsory Treatment" in (2002) European Addiction Research, vol 8: 52-93.
6. M J Lewis, The early alcoholism treatment movement in Australia, 1859-1939 (1992) Drug and Alcohol Review, vol 11: 75-84.
7. M J Lewis, Alcoholism in Australia, the 1880s to the 1980s: From medical science to political science (1988) Drug and Alcohol Review, vol 7: 391-401.
8. New South Wales Parliamentary Debates (1900), vol 105, p 2903.
9. G A Edwards, Mental illness and civil legislation in New South Wales. Unpublished MD thesis. (Sydney: University of Sydney, 1978), p 82.
10. See, further, M J Lewis, Managing Madness: Psychiatry and Society in Australia, 1788-1980. (Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1989). The account which follows borrows heavily from Lewis's careful historical reconstruction of these events.
11. M G MacAvoy and B Flaherty, Compulsory treatment of alcoholism: The case against (1990) Drug and Alcohol Review, vol 9: 267-272, at 270.
12. A full copy of the Inebriates Act 1912 (NSW) can be accessed online at: http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au
13. M Lodge, Inebriates Act 1912. Unpublished draft discussion paper. (Sydney: NSW Health Department, 1997), p 19.
14. Eller v Medical Superintendent of Gladesville/Macquarie Hospital (Unreported, NSW Supreme Court, ALD 30075/96, 5 July 1996, per Dunford J).
15. Quated in M Lodge, Notes of meeting on the inebriates Act, 8 September 1994, p 3 [Unpublished file note, NSW Health Department].
16. NSW Health Department, Survey of admissions data under the Inebriates Act 1912. Unpublished report. (Sydney NSW Health Department, 1992), p 1.
17. M G MacAvoy and B Flaherty, Compulsory treatment of alcoholism: The case against (op. cit.), at 269
18. J G Rankin, Definitive Treatment of Alcoholism. Paper delivered to the Summer School of Alcohol Studies (Melbourne: University of Melbourne, 1969).
19. A P White, Letter to the NSW Drug and Alcohol Directorate, 5 October 1994.
20. M Lodge, Minutes of meeting of the Review Committee on the Inebriates Act, 8 June 1994 [Unpublished file note, NSW Health Department].
21. M G MacAvoy and B Flaherty, Compulsory treatment of alcoholism: The case against (op. cit.), at 267.
22. M Lodge, Notes of meeting on the Inebriates Act (op. cit.), p 2.
23. A P White, Report to Hunter Area Health Service, 14 March 1994.
24. J Leanne, Letter to the Editor (1990) Drug and Alcohol Review, vol 10: 423-424.
25. A G Trethowan, Report on Psychiatry Treatment in NSW (Sydney: NSW Health Department, 1957), p 23. Writing in 1971, another observer heavily criticised the Inebriates Act for "merely consigning alcoholics to the limbo of country mental hospitals" and "providing treatment programmes under which relapse was the rule rather than the exception".
26. D S Bell, Plan for a drug-dependence service for New South Wales (1971) Medical Journal of Australia, vol 1: 567-569, at 568.
27. M Stafford, Reeview of the Inebriates Act 1912. Unpublished draft discussion paper. (Sydney: NSW Attorney-General's Department, 1999).
28. I H Pike, Magistrate's Views: The possible repeal of the Inebriates Act 1912. Unpublished report. (Sydney: Chief Magistrate's Office, 1992);
29. I H Pike, Letter to the Attorney-General of New South Wales, 4 May 1994.
30. New South Wales Law Reform Commission. Sentencing. Report no. 79. (Sydney: NSW Law Reform Commission, 1996), pp 233-234.
31. I H Pike, Magistrate's Views: The possible repeal of the Inebriates Act 1912 (op. cit.), p6.
32. A recent example which made its way into the law reports is the case of Hatch v Central Sydney Area Health Service [1999] NSWCA 168 (where an inebriate assault a mental health patient, resulting in a broken hip).
33. B Saul, Olympic Street Sweeping: 'Moving On' People and the Erosion of Public Space (2000) Polimic, vol 11(1): 34-37.
34. Drug Offensive Act 1987 (NSW), available only at: http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au
35. K Freeman et al., New South Wales Drug Court Evaluation: Program and Participant Profiles. Crime and Justice Bulletin No. 50 (Sydney: NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, 2000).
36. The Inebriates Act 1912 was to be repealed by Schedule 1 of the Miscellaneous Acts (Mental Health) Repeal and Amendment Act 1983, but the Amendment Act was repealed before Schedule 1 could take effect.