A DOPEY WAY TO WARN KIDS ABOUT DRUGS

The PM's message on narcotics has some serious flaws, writes Adele
Horin, as many parents can easily see.

What's a former dope-smoking hippie turned '90s investment banker
going to tell his kids about drug-taking? If he looks to the Prime
Minister's booklet on drugs for advice, he'll toss it in the bin.

The Federal Government's mail-out this week to the millions of
parents who are "our strongest defence against the drug problem" is a
wasted opportunity. If you were a drugs-savvy parent, you would
recognise in the booklet the same propaganda that plagued your own
teen years. If you were a parent naive about drugs, you would be none
the wiser. Indeed, you would conclude from reading the booklet that
the younger generation are masochists who smoke pot or take ecstasy
to feel absolutely horrible.

It's a shame. Take the booklet's advice to those parents whose
children say: "Well, you used drugs." The investment banker,
particularly interested in this section, chortled into his chardonnay
when he read the recommended response. Be "frank and honest", it
starts, before laying out the politically correct line. You should
tell them "you would make a different decision now ... You do not
want them to make the same mistake".

Mistake? What codswallop. The happiest time in the lives of many a
middle-aged investment banker, barrister and politician was their
dope-smoking youth. They don't regret a minute of it. Indeed, get
them started and they bore you with stories of halcyon evenings,
stoned around the chocolate box, when everyone was giggling and Cat
Stevens was god.

But that doesn't mean they are relaxed and comfortable about drugs
today. They know drugs are cheaper, more available, kids try them at
a younger age and heroin is deadly dangerous. They want to keep their
children drug-free for as long as possible. But they also want to
avoid hypocrisy, exaggeration and lies.

Unfortunately the PM's booklet is propaganda for the zero-tolerance
approach and the view that all drugs are equally dangerous. The
investment banker, turning to the section on cannabis, could hardly
recognise the description of its effects. Listed as "symptoms" are
mood swings, slow thinking, slow reflexes, dryness of mouth, and so
on in similar vein. Even the fondly recalled "munchies" is
transformed here into "increased appetite" and "weight gain". If
that's all marijuana did for you, if its effects were akin to
chemotherapy, why have 64 per cent of 20- to 29-year-olds used it?

Such a one-sided account diminishes the credibility of the entire
document. At the same time it answers none of the pertinent
questions: is dope a different, more dangerous drug now than 20 years
ago? If my kid is smoking, can I help him to minimise any adverse
effects?

The generation gap can only be widened by denying parents the full
story. How perplexed parents might be to learn their daughter takes
ecstasy when the booklet tells them the drug brings on "cracked teeth
through grinding" and other ghastly side effects.

Much of the booklet is devoted to helping parents communicate with
their children in a non-judgmental way about drugs. But all
communication is directed to achieving total abstinence from all
drugs. That is admirable but not always realistic.

Many thousands of young people will, at the least, try marijuana and
perhaps ecstasy. And parents, confronted with a recalcitrant
adolescent, won't get much help from this booklet. You will not find,
for example, information about keeping adolescents safe. For example,
people who take ecstasy need to know to try a little bit before
taking a whole tablet; to take breaks from dancing to cool down; to
stay with a non-using friend; to seek medical attention if they get
sick. They need to know choking on vomit has been a cause of death
among users.

Nor will you read in the PM's booklet that marijuana is not more
potent than when the merchant banker was a hippie, and that the
chance of becoming addicted is similar to the chance of alcohol
addiction. If adolescents insist on smoking, it's advisable not to
take big breaths - small puffs will do the job - nor use bongs, or
mix with tobacco, all of which can harm the lungs.

The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre has published a trio of
excellent new booklets on marijuana. They are more honest, helpful
and practical than the booklet that came in the mail this week.

On Triple J, the PM reacted sharply when the interviewer suggested
"the reality is people will use drugs". "No," he snapped, "the
reality is not. I am sorry, but the reality is not that people will
use drugs."

Coming from that perspective, it's no wonder the booklet he has
endorsed has the whiff of "reefer madness" about it.