YOUTH DRUG COURT ON TRIAL

A Youth Drug Court, with powers to sentence young addicts to
compulsory rehabilitation rather than jail, will be trialled in
western Sydney as part of the State Government's $100 million-plus
response to the Drug Summit.

The extension of the Drug Court experiment to the children's
jurisdiction, at a cost of $8.5 million, was outlined by the Premier
yesterday along with a $12 million package of security and
rehabilitation measures for schools and juvenile detention centres.

The Government also will trial mandatory face-to-face conferences
between children caught for drug offences at school and their parents
and principals. If necessary, a health worker will also be brought in
to personally tailor a plan for the student to get off drugs.

Mr Carr refused to be drawn on the other significant legal and health
components of the Government's Drug Summit response, which he said
would be unveiled today and tomorrow.

These are understood to contain approval for a trial of a medically
supervised injection room, probably in Kings Cross, and the
introduction of a police cautioning system which would allow
first-time cannabis offenders to be diverted outside the court system.
These measures will not involve the decriminalisation of marijuana nor
the decriminalisation of self-administration of heroin or other drugs.

Unveiling the first raft of the summit responses, Mr Carr - flanked by
his Minister for Education, Mr Aquilina, and Minister for Juvenile
Justice, Ms Tebbutt - said the Government was committed to pursuing a
range of options aimed at containing drug abuse among young people.

"What we are doing here is giving an encouragement to young offenders
to simply get off the drug that drove them to crime in the first place
... you have to have this carrot and stick approach and force people
to take responsibility for their own behaviour," he said.

"The way it works here is they get sentenced to jail but that sentence
is suspended if they embark on serious supervised rehabilitation."

The package of measures announced yesterday included:

* The creation of a new, 12-bed detoxification centre as part of the
$8.5 million allocated to the new youth drug court which will run for
two years from July 2000;

* $2.8 million to expand detoxification services in juvenile justice
and remand centres;

* $1 million to set up a random urinalysis program for juvenile
detainees; and

* Sniffer dogs to detect drugs in juvenile justice
centres.

Extra funding has also been allocated for 10 more alcohol and drug
counsellors in regional NSW and counselling and rehabilitation through
the Intensive Program Units.

A program established by the Ted Noffs Foundation will also be
extended and tried in 12 government and non-government schools in
inner Sydney.

This project involves a trained youth worker counselling students who
are identified to be at risk or who have been suspended for drug use.

Last year, 4,978 students were given suspensions of up to 20 days for
serious offences including drug use or possession while 32,796
received shorter suspensions for disciplinary misdemeanours.

Records show that last year 125 schools throughout NSW were forced to
call police for students accused of possessing or using drugs.

Other pledges include:

* A $4.7 million community action and drug education campaign which
will include the creation of specialist kits explaining to families
how to deal with issues such as teenage binge drinking, early warning
signs of drug use and treatment options for distribution via doctors
surgeries, community health centres, schools, pharmacies and the Internet;

* Collation of a comprehensive database of all services used by the
drug dependent, homeless or mentally ill;

* A peer education campaign targeting youth media and using a
help-line and pamphlets so young people can help friends at risk;

* A new mentoring and peer support program; and

* Creation of a Youth Entertainment Network setting up drug and
alcohol-free venues for under 18-year-olds in regional and rural NSW.

The drug court announcement won support from the Opposition's legal
affairs spokesman, Mr Chris Hartcher, who said he would like to see
the scheme expanded to include areas on the Central Coast such as
Gosford or Wyong.