DRUGS PLAN

THE credibility of the State Government's educational and preventive
drug plan for young people has been enhanced with the support by the
Opposition. The Opposition's legal affairs spokesman, Mr Chris
Hartcher, has endorsed the key reform of a Youth Drug Court, which has
powers to sentence young addicts to compulsory rehabilitation rather
than jail. Once young offenders go to jail, they are liable to be
inducted into the drug culture.

The court will be trialled in western Sydney. Mr Hartcher suggests
that the trial should be extended to include areas on the Central
Coast such as Gosford or Wyong. This has some merit.

The likelihood is that the Youth Drug Court scheme will be a
success.

It makes sense, therefore, to anticipate this outcome by extending the
initial scheme to an area of great need.

Most of the other details of the reform program set out by the
Premier, Mr Carr, follow the recommendations at the Drug Summit. There
will be mandatory face-to-face conferences between children caught for
drug offences at school, their parents and school officials.

The point of this reform is to underline the proposition that drug use
does not take place in a social vacuum. Users affect the culture of
the school.

They affect the dynamics of a family, as well.

Drug education will be compulsory for primary school
students.

For secondary schools, a program established by the Ted Noffs
Foundation (a leader in this field) will be trialled in 12 government
and non-government schools in inner Sydney. One of the dangers of an
"education" program is that it can lead to students becoming so
intrigued with the dangerous substance that they are prepared to
experiment with it. This is what has happened with some programs
trying to prevent glue-sniffing. Primary schoolchildren, though, are
less likely to be attracted to a banned substance than secondary
school students. This means, though, that the secondary school program
especially should be monitored closely to ensure that it encourages
students away from drug-taking.

By setting out its education program for young people, the Carr
Government has done the easy part of the job. The hard part is to
ensure its effectiveness. In the past, a number of expensive drug
education programs have failed.

This outcome may be averted if a rigorous audit system is entrenched
into this latest well-meaning program.