FORUM TO SPELL OUT 'HARD REALITY'

THE member for Albury, Mr Ian Glachan, believes a cross-border forum
on drug use will spell out the "hard reality" of the problem.

He has supported his Victorian counterpart Mr Tony Plowman in
organising the March 2 forum and said it was vital residents
understood that drug use was an issue which the community had to
address.

"You can't close your eyes and you can't pretend it doesn't exist by
burying your head in the sand and saying it will go away," Mr Glachan
said.

He said the forum would allow some of the mystery surrounding drug
use to be removed.

"There are a lot of myths about illicit drug use and what we've got
to do through this forum is get to the cold hard reality of what is
happening and how we deal with it," Mr Glachan said.

He added that after he witnessed the NSW Parliament's 1999 drug
summit, he believed a similar event in Albury-Wodonga would benefit
the community.

"This forum will let people know what the problem is and identify the
problem in our community, because it is a community problem that we
as citizens have to be involved in and solve," he said.

"It will also allow people to know where they can go for help if they
need it and it may help us with different ways of dealing with it.

"I'm sure the people in NSW will learn something from Victoria and
the Victorians will learn something from NSW.

"The final result will be a better understanding and this will be a
first step for this community to understanding the extent of the
problem and beginning to deal with the problem."

Mr Glachan, 66, said he found it hard to comprehend the rationale for
drug use, as a member of an older generation.

"I can still not understand with the information that is available
from various agencies about the harm and damage the use of illicit
drugs do that there are still people using them," he said.

Mr Glachan said it was clear greater education was needed to make
people aware of the issues surrounding drug use.

He added it was important to note that the problem could affect
so-called "model families" as well as the more typical victims.