HOW LONG BEFORE THEY SEE THE LIGHT ON DRUGS?

I read with sadness your report of Premier Bob Carr's refusal to invite his
Director of Public Prosecutions, Nick Cowdery, to his forthcoming "Drug
Summit" (CT, May 11, p.3).

Like Prime Minister Howard, who invited Major Brian Watters to chair his
"Tough on Drugs" taskforce, Premier Carr has also ensured that he will hear
only what he wants to hear and nothing more radical.

When nearly half of the country's directors of public prosecution are now
calling explicitly for a range of harm-minimisation strategies and rejecting
the zero-tolerance approach as being legally counterproductive one has to
wonder just how long it will be before our political leaders (of various
shades) begin to see the (albeit
ill-advised) use of currently illicit substances by voting adults as a
medical and educational problem rather than a criminal one.

GEOFF PAGE
Narrabundah