DRUG USE PART OF AUSTRALIAN LIFE, SAYS CARR

ALMOST 500,000 Australians had used hard drugs in the past year and 14,000
were being treated for drug problems each week, the New South Wales drug
summit was told yesterday.

NSW Premier Bob Carr, addressing the first day of the conference, said drug
use, legal and illegal, had become part of society, culture and "the
Australian way of life".

Mr Carr said he hoped the summit would not become a factional debate
between zero tolerance advocates and those who supported harm reduction.

"There's no debate in which there are more sincerely held opposing views,"
he said.

Opposition Leader Kerry Chikarovaki, sitting next to Mr Carr at the summit,
said she came with an open mind but with a set of values whose starting
point was: "health and life are gifts we all must cherish".

"The Opposition believes there is no acceptable level of illicit drug use,"
she told delegates from backgrounds as diverse as rugby league boss Neil
Whittaker and former pop star Normie Rowe.

"We must show no mercy to criminals who use young people to push their
trade in horror."

Her statistics provided evidence of the problem:

. Almost 14,000 people received drug treatment each week.

. Two in five Australians aged over 14 have tried at least one illicit drug.

. Almost 500,000 Australians used a hard drug in the past year.

. Australians steal $1.6 billion every year to fund addictions.

NSW Police Commissioner Peter Ryan called for action to prevent people from
using drugs in the first place and to help users overcome their addiction.

Many speakers, including Professor Margaret Hamilton, called for humane
responses to those who succumb, pleading: "Let us not wage war on them."

Professor David Pennington said Australia had curbed the spread of AIDS
better than almost any other country, with skill and compassion, and asked:
"Why can't we do the same with illicit drugs?"

In Brisbane yesterday, Det Supt Ava Brannmark of the Swedish National
Police Board warned Australia should not give drug users what they want,"
if the nation wanted to avoid a spiralling crime rate and explosion of drug
users.

Supt Brannmark said her country had experienced Australia's present drug
debate in the 60s and 70s.

But she said their decision to experiment with liberal drug laws resulted
in police and the community losing control and a massive explosion in the
number of drug users.

Supt Branninark said it was a false argument that people who had direct
access to drugs would not commit crimes to fund their habits.

She said Sweden was able to halt the country's spiralling drug problems by
the late 80s through a massive information campaign and strict legislation.

"I believe very much we are very lucky now because of the mistake back
then," she said.

The turning tide for Sweden's approach was created by several deaths caused
by legally prescribed drugs, Supt Brannmark said.

She said traditional differences had been settled between those on the
front line - police and social workers.

The Swedish experience showed methadone programmes were "not the correct
way to do it" either.

"It's not human to keep people on drugs. Parents, police, the community,
none of them want to see people on drugs all the time," she said.

She also said warned that drug dealers could not be kept out of official
shooting galleries.