SOUL-SEARCHING LED TO QUEST FOR ALTERNATIVES

THE FUNERAL of David Green was held on Wednesday of last week. That he was
well known was demonstrated by the many people who attended the funeral.
David during his life did not receive a knighthood nor any of the usual
public acknowledgements but he may have triggered a series of events that
may prove to save many lives.

When one of his sons died from a heroin overdose in 1995, David was
instrumental in starting the group Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform
and became the group's first chairman. He wanted to make a difference and
did not want other parents to suffer the same tragedy.

It was this singular act that encouraged other parents to overcome the
stigma of a drug-related death and to speak out about these needless and
tragic deaths. He showed that those who succumbed to drugs were much loved
despite their sometimes chaotic existence a more compassionate approach
than existed at that time.

The Legislative Assembly's Speaker, Greg Cornwell, is reported in The
Canberra times (May 15) as saying parents of drug users or parents who have
lost a child to drugs should do some soul-searching. Presumably so that
they will arrive at the, often repeated and often failed, solutions he has
in mind.

I believe that David did search his soul. A tragedy of such personal
magnitude could hardly fail to cause one to do so. At the funeral, one of
his sons declared that David did not die of a heart attack as officially
recorded, but of a broken heart because of the unnecessary death of his son.

But David did more than search his soul he came to the conclusion that
alternative approaches were necessary and he took action.

Vale, David.

B. McConnell President, Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform, Higgins