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