I DISAGREE

John Howard thinks that parents are Australia's greatest resource in
fighting the drug problem. He implies that homes where discussion is open
are "properly functioning, stable, united, loving homes" where drug
addiction will not happen.

Tell that to the parents who provided stable environments and whose
children died of drug overdoses. He also implies that drug addicts come
from unstable homes. I can imagine that would upset parents who have
unstable homes for reasons beyond their control and manage to raise kids
who are not addicts.

While education is valuable, it is not the whole answer. Mass education has
been done in WA. The only result I ever heard about concerned a dearly
loved ethnic friend who was beaten up by her neurotic husband because he
thought the maildrop was personal and it meant his kids were on drugs.

The evidence that mass-media campaigns do any good would fit on the back of
a stamp, yet our Government is about to spend $27 million on one. That
money would fund a high-speed launch to patrol our coastline or several
hundred more sniffer dogs which, in the long term, would be far more effective.

Jan Steele, Dianella.