A 'SILVER BULLET' AIMED AT SCHOOLS

The State Government is searching for a "silver bullet" for the next stage
of its drug reform platform that will focus on prevention in schools and
early intervention programs for families.

The Special Minister of State, Mr Della Bosca, said the challenge for the
Government after last year's Drug Summit was to find the policies which
minimised the number of people using drugs and to find ways to stop
experimental users becoming addicts.

"I think the silver bullet in this debate, the policy mix we're still
looking for, the issue we're going to work hard over the next few years, is
to find a way in which we can put in place a full preventative strategy," Mr
Della Bosca told the ALP's State conference yesterday.

He later told the Herald that the Minister for Education, Mr Aquilina, was
reviewing school drug education policies and looking at new programs for
primary school students.

"The big campaign is first of all getting all the treatment right, dealing
with addicts, having a big program to get them off drugs and out of the
criminal cycle," he said.

"But the medium-to longer-term challenge is how do we get people to minimise
the risk of individually making themselves drug addicts."

Although the Government has separated the issues of legal and illegal
drugs - because "we don't want to add any more drugs on to the acceptable
list" - there was a deep suspicion that signs of alcohol abuse also
influenced other behavioural problems, such as gambling.

"It's all about societal issues, about how people react to problems they
have," Mr Della Bosca said. "We need to look at how people are introduced to
drugs in a cultural context."

The emphasis on prevention follows the establishment of Government
treatment, rehabilitation and court diversion programs after the Drug Summit
and the opening later this year of Australia's first heroin injecting room.

Mr Della Bosca said the International Narcotics Control Board had been
impressed by early intervention programs for families established by the
Minister for Community Services, Mrs Lo Po'.

"They [the INCB] came out here, I think, with a half intention of developing
a critique of us based on their concerns on the injecting room, but that
became a marginal issue when they saw the work we were doing on law
enforcement and prevention with families."

* The Transport Workers Union will hold rolling stoppages throughout NSW on
Thursday to highlight the dangers of needlestick injuries to union members
collecting clinical waste from hospitals.

A TWU delegate to the ALP conference said two workers had received
needlestick injuries but there had been no response to requests to the
Health Department to immunise employees against hepatitis strains.