TRIAL SOLUTIONS NO WAY TO DO THE HARD YARDS

The drug reform debate is about to get much tougher for the Carr Government.

You may have had an earful of hysterical talkback and commentary, and been
aware of the proliferation of drug use, and the attendant tragedies.

You may also have noticed experts and so-called experts protesting at the
inertia, a five-day drug summit intended to shift the responsibility to all
of us, and three days of Government responses.

But now come the real hard yards. Government stabs at a compromise between
the two extremist positions - hardline heavy-punishment prohibition, and
decriminalisation - are doomed to appease neither.

The strategy, therefore, is to ignore both. But how do you target the silent
alleged majority, whose own confused and often conflicting attitudes will
continue to be buffeted by the hostilities of those blessed with certitude
about "solutions" which have failed here and overseas?

The experience with relatively uncontroversial but massively expensive
advertising campaigns is illustrative.

Their absence is frequently cited as an example of inaction. At best,
however, their US success has been lacklustre; at worst, they've entrenched
intrigue of drugs among the vulnerable while promoting anti-drug prejudice
only among firm non-users.

The real marketing difficulty is that we're feeling our way through the
dark. The starting point must be an acknowledgement that we don't know what
will work. And the Government does not know either. It is trying to sell us
on trial solutions without having convinced itself.

Apart from the medically supervised heroin injecting room trial, which it
has neatly shoved to the nuns (is this a hospital pass?), the Government has
eschewed radical responses. Its written handouts yesterday stressed just how
reluctant NSW is to take a lead in relaxing cannabis laws.

It had six ministers dispersed to provincial cities yesterday making
simultaneous announcements on specific regional drug fighting initiatives.
One of them was the former ALP boss, John Della Bosca, handed the unenviable
task of co-ordinating implementation of the response.

His brief, of course, includes managing the politics of it - the marketing.
Mr Fixit should get himself a heavy raincoat.