A WAR WE MUST KEEP FIGHTING UNTIL WE WIN

I was disappointed and saddened at the defeatist tone of The Age's
editorial this week, with the sub-heading "The war on drugs has failed".

It clearly suggested that we should abandon all that Victoria has
done, and replace its strategies with initiatives such as
drug-injecting centres. This simplistic approach is at best naive and
at worst dangerous.

For many years Australian police commissioners have recognised that a
law-enforcement approach alone will not totally address the drug
problem. For this reason we have enthusiastically supported the
harm-minimisation philosophy, which has a broad-based approach of
supply, demand and harm reduction.

But it must be remembered that supply reduction is one component of
harm minimisation, and Victorian police will continue to mount
investigations to interrupt the supply chain. We will never relent
from the pursuit of drug traffickers.

We recognise, however, that drug abuse is essentially a health
problem. Indeed, recent initiatives by police in diverting first-time
drug abusers from the criminal justice system to the health system
show our flexibility in dealing with drug abuse.

It is also recognised that other measures need to be taken - heroin
trials and injecting rooms are certainly worthy of debate. I
understand Dr David Penington, chairman of the Victorian Government's
Drug Policy Expert Committee, stated this week that legislative
changes should be made before any injecting rooms are introduced. This
must be done in conjunction with planning and determination of
location at a local level - this has always been the view of the
Victoria Police.

Such initiatives may, in time, prove to be of value in addressing some
cases of addicted or high-risk users, but in no circumstances can they
be seen as panacea for the whole drug problem.

In recent years law enforcement authorities in Australia have seized
tonnes of illicit drugs destined for the streets. It cannot be said
that this has no impact - how many addicts may have died had these
drugs reached the street market? But nor can it be said that we can
eradicate the supply of drugs into Australia. The size of the
Australian coastline and accessibility of many ports and remote
airstrips present logistical problems. The most common drugs of abuse
come from overseas and are funded by highly organised criminal gangs
supported in many cases by corrupt authorities in those countries. And
Australia is an affluent country with ready cash to pay for drugs, so
the principle of supply and demand will ensure that this insidious
trade continues.

Yet some things are within the control of authorities. The widespread
use of the drug Narcan, administered in emergency situations to
overdose victims to reverse the effects of heroin, is one tangible
example of saving lives. It is Victorian police policy to encourage
drug-affected people to receive this treatment without fear of
prosecution. Around 3000 people have been administered this drug in
life-threatening situations in the past year alone.

The real gain to be made in addressing the drug problem is to reduce
demand. Our community now has a substantial number of drug abusers
because we have failed to adequately empower our young people to
reject drug abuse as a part of their lifestyle. We are now desperately
seeking ways to address the symptoms of this problem, but still have
not adequately come to grips with the issue of demand reduction.

This is where the real battle against drugs begins. The so-called war
is not lost, as The Age's editorial and some commentators assert. It
is, however, at a critical point.

I remain optimistic that with a positive, flexible, multi-faceted,
cooperative and committed approach we can ultimately make inroads.
This means the relationship between health, welfare, education,
criminal justice and law enforcement authorities will need to be
further strengthened and supported by the commitment of substantial
resources by government.

Last year the Federal Government committed $111million over four years
to the development of a national framework to divert illicit drug
users towards treatment programs. This initiative stems from a
partnership that the Victoria Police and the Department of Human
Services developed. Already, Victorian police have diverted more than
120 people into treatment programs in the past 17months. This is just
one example of the many positive initiatives that do not get adequate
recognition.

So what more can we do? Every child must be given the opportunity to
understand the implications of drug abuse. Those children who are at
risk of succumbing to drug abuse must be provided with support through
early intervention strategies. And those who do succumb must have the
opportunity for immediate access to treatment and rehabilitation services.

The Victoria Police has 85 school resource police officers attending
more than 200 primary and secondary schools. Such measures will help
in strengthening the resistance of our community. If we fail to act
effectively on this strategy, we can be assured the next generation of
drug abusers will emerge from our present generation of
schoolchildren.

The force will not concede defeat to the insidious drug trade. We will
continue to seek new strategies to address the cause of the problem.
Addressing the symptoms of the problem is important, but will never
make a significant impact on the real issue - the need to prevent drug
abuse occurring in the first instance.

That opportunity is still with us, but it will require a long-term,
visionary, bipartisan commitment of significant resources by the State
and Federal Governments.

Neil Comrie is chief commissioner of the Victoria Police.