WAR COUNCIL TO FIGHT DRUGS BATTLE

A war council with sweeping powers to oversee the drugs crisis will herald
a new era in the battle to save young Victorians.Premier Steve Bracks used
the historic drugs summit yesterday to detail plans for a new independent
drug body, which will focus on prevention and education.

It will be set up with similar powers to the influential body VicHealth.

Flanked by his 131 parliamentary colleagues and Opposition members, Mr
Bracks made a passionate plea for all Victorians to join the fight against
drugs.

He stopped short of adopting the full model proposed by former chief
commissioner Neil Comrie, but hailed the special sitting of Parliament a
success.

Mr Bracks told the joint sitting: "This is our problem and we must tackle
it together."

He said the extra focus on prevention would include a $2.4 million drug
awareness program aimed at young people.

Opposition Leader Denis Napthine endorsed the joint sitting, saying he
strongly supported the push for a greater focus on prevention.

He also advocated an annual joint sitting on drugs. "The Liberal Party . .
. offers the Government its full support in doing just that," he said.

Mr Comrie, who sparked the special sitting after revealing his plans in the
Herald Sun,was last night optimistic the war council - whose members have
not been revealed - would be a success, but said it must have sweeping powers.

"We all understand the problem, it's now time to get on with it and to
start delivering on some of the things we have spoken about," he said later.

"The only way to do that in a meaningful way, in my view, is to have some
authority which sets the standards, monitors performance and makes sure the
money that is committed to this is actually committed to areas of the
highest priority," Mr Comrie said.

He said a 10-year strategy that was above politics was needed to win the
fight against drugs.

Parliament heard from several of the state's leading experts on the drugs
crisis, detailing the strengths and weaknesses of existing drugs policy.

Mr Bracks revealed the new Premier's Drug Prevention Council would include
people from a broad range of non-political backgrounds and be supported by
its own network of staff.

It would report to parliament through the Drugs and Crime Prevention
Committee and be funded by the Government.

"We'll work with Neil Comrie, David Penington and others on the form of
(it)," Mr Bracks said.

"I think it's an appropriate way to go because we have to range across the
whole of Government and reporting to the Premier and reporting to the
Parliament . . . is the right step to take."

"A statutory authority similar to the ombudsman, which Mr Comrie was
proposing, I don't think would optimise the efforts we want out of all
government departments to make sure their programs are directed to assist
in the prevention of young people taking drugs."

The council will establish links among business, philanthropists and the
community and advise the Government on drug education and prevention.

Mr Comrie spoke about the dangers of politics taking over the debate,
adding that better education programs were needed for schools and special
advisers should be placed in every school.

He believed every MP knew there was a great opportunity to fight the drug
problem.

"However, the political process has effectively stifled progress down this
path," Mr Comrie said.

"Instead, we have been using a great deal of our time and energy arguing
about treatment models such as supervised injecting facilities, heroin
trials and legalisation/decriminalisation."

Professor David Penington, who was at the centre of the last joint sitting
on the drug debate in 1996, reminded MPs of what he saw as the failure to act.

"Five years ago I warned in this House that unless we took a new approach
to cannabis, including a realistic and strong health-based campaign against
excessive and harmful use, more young people would start on cannabis then
move to heroin," Prof Penington said.

"It was becoming cheaper than cannabis. Sadly this is exactly what has
happened."

Prof Penington's model for an independent body mirrored the Bracks
Government's agenda.

"Like VicHealth, it should report to the Premier, and annually to the
Parliament," he said.

Catholic Archbishop George Pell said the heroin problem was only the "tip
of the iceberg" in terms of community problems.

Dr Pell suggested a tough advertising campaign could help to counter the
effects of modern society on the young. He said that, unless society took
responsibility for problems facing families, then social problems could
intensify.

"If family breakdown worsens it will cancel out the gains of even the best
social programs," Dr Pell said.

School principal Andy Hamilton, of Heatherhill Secondary College in
Springvale, said schools faced ad hoc funding.

"This approach must cease," Mr Hamilton said.

Prof Margaret Hamilton, head of the Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre,
warned it was crucial that the community was not left to feel lost and
disempowered by the drugs tragedy.

VicHealth chief Rob Moodie said partial victories over road and
smoking-related deaths showed inroads could be made.