A UNITED STAND

COMMON SENSE, when spoken out loudly and fearlessly, has a resonance that
demands both our attention and support.

The call by retiring police chief Neil Comrie for a joint sitting of state
parliament to develop a bipartisan approach in the war against drugs has
such a ring about it.

Indeed his proposition is impossible to argue with.

In essence, Mr Comrie is saying our best chance of beating this scourge of
modern society is with a united front.

It may sound a simplistic approach to a world-wide entrenched problem, but
we need only recall the recent long and ultimately unsatisfactory saga over
safe injecting rooms to recognise the universal truth in what Mr Comrie
advocates.

The issues of shooting galleries and heroin trials divided the community,
absorbed much time, effort and money, and in the end became nothing more
than a political football. And while they dragged on interminably, more
lives were lost.

Perhaps there may be some who criticise Mr Comrie for waiting until the eve
of his retirement before making his assertions. But they would be
overlooking his long history in drug prevention (as a driving force in the
cannabis cautioning program and drug diversion program) and they would be
guilty of the same error that so many have made in the past; looking for
scapegoats instead of solutions.

Some might also question Mr Comrie's call for a 10-year plan, looking for a
more immediate response to a problem that claims the lives of so many of
our young. But Mr Comrie knows enough of the vastness of the undertaking to
realise that quick-fix responses won't solve a problem which he predicts
may grow to claim as many as 2500 victims a year if left unchecked. Once
again, his strategy is simple. Reduce demand.

``Can we honestly say the things we're doing at the moment will reduce or
minimise the number of young people in future generations who are going to
abuse drugs?'' he asks.

So education is a key point of his plan. He calls it the ``missing link'' .
. . ``the platform on which everything else sits''.

Already the signs are encouraging that Mr Comrie's strategy will get the
unqualified support it needs to have a chance of success. People from both
sides of politics, from sport, religion and business have indicated
willingness not only to support the program but to be part of it.

The Herald Sun will do all it can to help what it believes to be a
positive, focused attempt to fight the drug problem. Too often in the past,
measures against drug abuse have been plotted according to opinion polls
and elections. The time is right to take politics out of the debate and aim
all of our community energy in the same direction.

As Mr Comrie said: ``We've had the debate . . . let's get on with some action.''