PM'S DRUGS APPEAL TO 6 MILLION HOMES

A $24 million anti-drugs campaign - including graphic television commercials
and a mail-out to more than 6million households - will be launched by the
Prime Minister tomorrow.

It includes an unprecedented offer of group sessions run by Relationships
Australia, which will teach parents how to talk to their children about
illicit drugs.

The theme of the campaign is "Families - our strongest defence against the
drug problem".

It is understood it will begin with a series of confronting commercials,
including a teenage girl who appears to have just had sex, a girl fighting
and shouting with her mother, a young man breaking into a property, and a
corpse being zipped into a body bag.

This series will be followed by a second wave of advertisements known as the
"Lost Dreaming", in which a young child's voice is heard talking over the
scenes in the original ads, outlining hopes for the future, including: "When
I grow up, I want to play footy for Australia."

A third and fourth wave of ads will follow and will feature immigrant,
indigenous and other families watching the original ads and discussing their
content.

Further TV and newspaper ads will provide more straightforward information
on the mailout of the parental information booklet. This pamphlet offers
counselling, education and 10 tips on communicating with children.

Mr Howard told Melbourne radio yesterday that the advertisements would be
"quite confronting" and that parents should talk to their children and
"understand it can happen to you".

The campaign was originally scheduled for launch in July last year but
caused a national controversy when it was suddenly withdrawn after Mr
Howard's office criticised the content of the parents' booklet, stating it
was not tough enough.

A personal staffer rewrote key sections, sparking grave anxieties among
health officials and senior members of the Australian National Council on
Drugs reference committee, which was established specifically to oversee
development of the strategy.

Originally, Mr Howard's rewritten theme was "Our strongest weapon against
drugs ... families". The booklet contained statistics and information which
health sources described as unscientific, including: "Studies overseas
reveal that young people from families who eat together at least five times
a week are less likely to be involved in drugs."

However, after much debate and amendment, the campaign in its final form has
been welcomed with enthusiasm, with drug and alcohol workers and law reform
advocates happy with the focus and content.

The founder of Family Drug Support and former member of the Council on
Drugs, Mr Tony Trimingham, said: "The emphasis on communication is
excellent, particularly listening as well as talking. Parents need to
remember what it was like when they were teenagers and not be hypocritical
about their own drinking or smoking.

"The comprehensive nature of this campaign will be very effective. The only
criticism I would have is that tobacco and alcohol are clearly problems, and
although there is reference to mixing illicit drugs with alcohol, I believe
there should have been material on the legal drugs included with the
illicit."

Mr Howard was under fire this week for changing the membership of the drugs
council. An independent panel of doctors called on the Government to
increase spending on drug prevention, treatment and education.

The Victorian Parliament also held a historic joint session to debate drugs,
in a similar vein to the successful NSW Drug Summit.