KEEPING DRUGS PRIORITIES STRAIGHT

The Australian National Council on Drugs, the body that advises the Howard
Government on its anti-drugs strategy, is in danger of over-reaching both
its remit and its practical effectiveness if recent comments by its leading
figures are anything to go by. According to the council's executive officer,
Gino Vumbaca, the organisation wants to increase the focus on cannabis as a
dangerous drug in its 2001 campaign, which will also concentrate on alcohol,
tobacco and heroin.

The shift towards emphasising problems associated with cannabis appears to
have come as a result of anecdotal evidence gained during a consultation
program last year. People in non-metropolitan areas expressed concern to the
council about the prevalence of cannabis use in their local zones and felt
that the cities, where heroin use is concentrated, had hijacked the debate.

It is to be hoped that this is not the basis on which either the government
or the council forms drugs policy.

Heroin is tearing away at the foundations of our society in a way that no
drug has ever done. It is turning parts of Melbourne's city centre and up to
half-a-dozen suburban shopping centres into crime-ridden, filthy, antisocial
places. More importantly and more tragically, it is ending lives in the
hundreds each year - young lives.

Families are being devastated. Part of a generation is being obliterated.
There can be no doubt that this should be the number one priority of all
state and federal agencies entrusted with dealing with the abuse of drugs.

This is not to suggest that the legal drugs, alcohol and tobacco, should not
command considerable attention.

Their misuse costs millions of dollars each year and the fact that their use
is legally mandated means that they will require an ongoing commitment.
Similarly marijuana, an illegal drug that is widely used, especially among
younger people, should rightly be part of any educational campaign designed
to bring home the dangers associated with its use.

However, there is a whiff of pandering in the council's stated approach.

By any measure, cannabis use either in the suburbs or in rural towns is not
as immediate a priority as the heroin scourge.

Australians outside the cities are probably justified in feeling unsettled
by the apparent rise in cannabis use in their townships.

But all Australians, no matter where they live, can be expected to be
appalled by the ubiquitous and lethal nature of the heroin trade and its
effects on society at large.

The argument about the legalisation or decriminalisation of cannabis can go
on but it would be unfortunate if the Federal Government were to divert
resources away from the fight against heroin.

The focus must remain on this deadliest and most addictive of illicit drugs.