PARTY'S DRUG STANCE APPLAUDED

The Liberal Party decision to oppose the proposed trial of heroin injecting rooms should be applauded.

Rather than give up the fight and effectively legalise hard drugs by condoning their use in supervised areas we as a society should be seeking positive alternatives.

Condoning hard drugs sends absolutely the wrong message to the most vulnerable members of our community.

Surely the better approach is a multi-pronged attack utilising all the weapons at our disposal such as rehabilitation, education, tougher police powers, mandatory reporting, more police dedicated to the fight and tougher sentencing.

We cannot allow the current system to continue where an overdose victim is revived and then simply walks away without further treatment, counselling and involvement in a rehabilitation process.

Ambulance officers must be given the power to compulsorily admit overdose victims to specialist hospitals rather than the current situation where they have not power to even take a name and address.

Already the medical profession has a range of treatment options available and research and trials of new methods continues but we must, as a first step, identify those in need of assistance by mandatory reporting of overdoses.

There is also much work to be done in educating our young people on the dangers of hard drugs.

It is disturbing indeed that the average age of a heroin addict in Australia is 23 years, whereas in some European countries it is over 40 years.

Relentless advertising campaigns, similar to the TAC road toll advertisements, are needed to reduce the uptake of hard drugs.

Tougher treatment of convicted drug traffickers, with property confiscation and a harsher sentencing policy, in segregated jails, must also be used as part of the ongoing fight.

We must be prepared to commit substantial resources to this battle over a long period of time, otherwise the drug scourge will continue to grow.

Andrew Randell, Tawonga South