COMIC SAYS 'DRUGS OKAY'

A Berrigan woman has hit out at a drug education comic book as glamorising
a terrible social problem.

Mrs Marie Cox said the Streetwize Hep C comic, funded by the NSW Health
Department, was more like an Archie comic than a useful tool in the fight
against drugs.

She said the 20-page comic showed young people buying and using a range of
illegal drugs.

Mrs Cox said the characters explained in detail how to use drugs and the
drugs were consumed at nightclubs and parties, giving the drug culture a
glamorous edge.

"It gives out the story that it is okay to use drugs and if you do not know
how to do it, it will show you how," she said.

"The reality of drugs is that the ambulance picks up people off the streets
and carts them into hospital and revive them so they can get another shot."

Mrs Cox said she would start lobbying for something more realistic.

Team manager at the Albury Community Health Centre Ms Kay McQuellin said
the comic, put out by the non-government organisation, the NSW Users
Association, made it clear to people how easily Hepatitis C could be
transmitted, using language to which young people could relate.