'IS THAT NOT TOUGH ENOUGH?'

That the PM has withdrawn a drug education booklet "based on two years'
research and planning" by experts, to replace it with his own rhetoric
defies belief.

His statement, "Real leadership that upholds community values demands that
we get tough on drugs, not tough on the people with the problem", holds no
promise of success.

I fail to understand how you can be tough on drugs without being tough on
the people involved.

I know that it is already so tough and so difficult most families are
destroyed.

Their young people become homeless and more than 1,000 will die each year.
Is that not tough enough?

Often they end up in jail with serious long-term health issues. How much
tougher would he suggest?

We need real policies which offer real hope and real intervention, not
throwaway lines based on questionable knowledge which make the community at
large feel good but don't offer any support to those affected.

And we can't wait another decade to get on with it. The time to start is
now.

Bronwyn Barnard, Kaleen (ACT).