PM'S DRUG CLEAN-OUT

Drug groups last night condemned a move by John Howard to revamp the
country's leading drugs advisory body. The criticism follows confirmation
that as many as five members of the Australian National Council on Drugs,
which is headed by the Salvation Army's Major Brian Watters, will not be
kept on for new terms.

Those going include the founder of Family Drug Support, Tony Trimingham,
Wesley Noffs of the Ted Noffs Foundation and Karen Hart, the former head of
the National School Principals Association.

Wayne Hall, the head of the University of NSW National Drug and Alcohol
Research Centre, has resigned. The president of the Families and Friends
for Drug Law Reform, Brian McConnell, said last night that its
representative, Mr Trimingham had been "sacked".

"After the Ryan by-election, the Prime Minister said he was now listening
to the community . . . but this shows he is not listening," Mr McConnell said.

He said Mr Trimingham favoured strategies such as heroin trials and
injecting rooms, but these did not fit Mr Howard's ideologies.

The Australian Intravenous League, a body representing illicit drug users,
said it was dismayed at the changes. "Without adequate consumer
representation, how can the council possibly reflect the needs of the
people most affected by illicit drugs?" executive officer Annie Madden said.

"(This) will not help the lives of the many thousands of drug users who
were hoping for change and a humane response," she said. But Mr Howard said
in a statement that new appointments would add to the range of expertise on
the council.

"(Claims) that members of the Australian National Council on Drugs will not
be reappointed because they do not support a zero-tolerance approach to
drug policy . . . and that they are making way for those who do support
such an approach are wrong," he said.