GOVERNMENT FACES SUMMIT TEST

THE first set of documents released as a prelude to the Community Drug
Summit in August effectively defines the extent of WA's illicit drugs problem.

Although West Australians have been aware in general terms that illicit
drug use has been burgeoning, the raw figures are daunting. They show that
drug abuse in WA is now a $1 billion-a-year problem.

WA has the second highest illicit drug use in the nation, behind only the
Northern Territory. More than three million needles and syringes were
distributed to drug users in WA last year and more than half the population
has used illicit drugs.

Health Minister Bob Kucera says he is staggered by these figures, a
reaction that probably is shared by most West Australians. The main item on
the summit's agenda is now obvious - to find the means by which to reverse
the growth in the use of illicit drugs.

It is equally obvious that efforts to combat drug abuse until now have been
failing. New measures have to be devised and tried. The job of setting
possible future directions has been given to the summit.

The quality of the summit's results will depend on its composition. The
summit should not be allowed to become a talkfest. It should not be a forum
for theorists or people seeking a platform for statements of ideology.

The community wants from the summit - and is entitled to expect -
recommendations for practical solutions that offer realistic hopes of
reducing the scale of devastation from drug abuse. The most valuable
contributions are likely to come from people who have had first-hand
experiences with illicit drug abuse or its causes and effects.

About 1000 people have applied to be delegates but only 100 will be chosen.
A key test of the sincerity of the Government's intentions will be the
basis on which delegates are selected.

To some extent, the pre-election promise by Labor to establish the summit
was a political artifice that enabled it to avoid making commitments on
some controversial and divisive drugs issues.

The WA electorate bought the idea. But it is now time for the politicking
to end. The summit should be accepted as a rare opportunity to bring
together the people with the experience and expertise to devise practical
plans with which to combat the drugs problem.

The Government would be able to generate more community support for the
summit if it made public the criteria that are to be used to select
delegates. This would allay any suspicion that the summit might be stacked
with people who have views the Government wants to hear. And it would allow
people to judge the merit of selections.

Of course, medical and other experts must be selected and heard. But this
is a wider community issue and they do not have all the solutions.

Addicts should be heard, as should reformed addicts. The summit should find
out what led people to turn to drugs in the first place, so that the prime
causes can be attacked. The summit should also hear the observations of
people who work with the young.

The forgotten people in the drugs debate, the often bewildered and
shattered parents of addicts, must also be heard.

The summit can succeed - but only if delegates are selected purely on the
basis of what they can contribute.