COMMUNITY GROUPS OPPOSE DRUG REFERENDUM

Community groups have called on the ACT Government to reconsider an illicit
drugs referendum at the October election, labelling it a simplistic
approach to a complex issue.

The ACT Council of Social Service, Assisting Drug Dependents Inc and
Women's Information, Referral and Education on Drugs and Dependency issued
a statement yesterday opposing the referendum plan. But their call drew a
stinging response from one of the proposal's key instigators, Liberal
candidate Vicki Dunne, who said the groups were trying to protect their
"pet projects".

"The question I ask is what are ACTCOSS and some of the community
organisations afraid of?" Mrs Dunne said. "Why do they not want to consult
the people except in some restrictive manner?"

Mrs Dunne, co-chair of the Liberals' family policy group and adviser to
Chief Minister Gary Humphries, said the groups were afraid of a referendum.
"Almost everyone who's opposed in some form to the referendum has a pet
project," she said.

Social service council director Daniel Stubbs said the group was afraid of
a complex issue being reduced to a yes or no question. "There's no single
solution to this complex problem, so to have a referendum would not really
inform the debate and would not create informed debate," Mr Stubbs said.

Executive director of Assisting Drug Dependents Karen Harmon said the
community did not fully understand drug-addiction problems and could not
make an informed choice.

"I think drug taking today is viewed very much the same as mental illness
used to be until people were informed about mental illness," she said.

Drug use was a health issue and health professionals were best placed to
advise government on it.

Mrs Dunne said people wanted to have drugs "out of their faces". "We [the
Liberal Party] want to test the water, we want to test public opinion . . .
we've been leaving these issues to the experts for 10 or 15 years and we
don't have an answer."

The Government has backed the referendum plan, which would require Assembly
support to go ahead.