- Comment: Why we need a drug summit
Being arrested on a drug charge was the best thing that ever happened to criminal lawyer Edwina Lloyd.
The Labor candidate for the state seat of Sydney acknowledges it is a strange thing for a solicitor and would-be politician to admit, but she says what followed allowed her to turn her life around.
"I know what it sounds like - a politician with a colourful past - I know I am going to lose some skin over it. But I want other people to have the opportunity I have had, to change and build a successful life," she said.
Her confession follows that of Opposition Leader Luke Foley, who this month revealed his drink-driving convictions. Mr Foley said he was ashamed of the two convictions but he wanted to be honest about them and reveal the offences himself, rather than have them come out later.
The husbands of other Labor politicians including federal MP Tanya Plibersek, who holds the federal seat of Sydney and the Labor candidate for Balmain, Verity Firth, have previously been outed for drug offences. Media revealed that Ms Plibersek's husband, Michael Coutts-Trotter, had served three years of a nine-year jail sentence for conspiracy to traffic heroin when he was 21. It was revealed in 1995 when Mr Coutts-Trotter was a senior press secretary to then-NSW treasurer Michael Egan. Ms Firth's husband was revealed to have been arrested for buying an ecstasy tablet before the 2011 election in which Ms Firth lost her seat. He pleaded guilty but had no conviction recorded.
Ms Lloyd said she was 30 when she was arrested for cocaine dealing. She was in the wrong scene and her life was out of control. The cocaine was only a small amount worth $200-$300. But as she says, dealing is dealing. She won't shy away from it.
After her arrest she decided to enter a residential rehabilitation facility called The Buttery, near Byron Bay, and underwent the long-term live-in program. She got off alcohol and drugs and enrolled in a law degree. When she went back to court and pleaded guilty to the charge, she had changed her life so much the magistrate gave her a second chance and did not record a conviction.
She finished her law degree and was admitted to as a solicitor, disclosing her past. She also disclosed the charge when she put her name forward as a potential candidate for the Labor Party.
She said she has received nothing but support from colleagues and friends and is now using her life and professional skills as a legal aid lawyer to help others, particularly those facing drug charges. She is entering politics and telling her story in the hope that it can effect some change on the criminal justice system.
"This is my life's work. I want to reduce the stigma and put a human face to these sorts of problems. I want people to see that rehabilitation can and does work," she told The Sun-Herald.
"People can change, they just need to be given the opportunity and the right support," she said.
Ms Lloyd is advocating for better access to the drug court and programs for people who have drug and mental health issues. She says if the offence involves violent conduct then an offender is not eligible for the drug court.
Many people are therefore being refused entry to drug programs that could help them. But usually they have committed the violence because of the drugs, creating a catch-22 situation.
Ice, she believes is the biggest drug problem in NSW and she wants a drug summit dedicated to look at the ice epidemic. "I am sick of the big law-and-order stick that comes out at election time. Addiction is a health issue and we should be putting more resources into rehabilitation of offenders and expanding drug treatment prisons. It also makes economic sense because rehabilitating prisoners means less reoffending".
"As a modern-day solicitor it is our job to help people get back on the right path."
Clarification: An earlier version of this story said news of Mr Coutts-Trotter's conviction broke after he was promoted to director-general of the NSW Education Department in 2007. Also, an earlier version said that Edwina Lloyd was admitted to the bar, rather than admitted as a solicitor.
