Will the coming Drug Summit be another wasted opportunity where
posturing replaces dialogue and paid professionals with conflicts of
interest are treated as equal to, or more important than, affected
members of our community?

If we were serious about change, we'd structure our "debates" to
produce the knowledge, agreement and commitment that we need to
achieve enduring change.

We must reduce our reliance on advice from those receiving the
hundreds of millions paid out in the drug "war". A little thought
shows that it is totally unfair and unreasonable to expect paid
professionals to support or advance policies which weaken their power,
reduce their budgets or make them redundant, no matter how
well-meaning they are.

To make a difference and find mutually acceptable ways to save lives
and improve our society, we need open and honest dialogue between
informed advocates representative of the community. The paid
professionals should be the implementers of our policies, not their
advocates and designers.

If we create "debates" where paid professionals, supported by volumes
of data and funded by current programs, argue strenuously for the
status quo against struggling, and often desperate, families of drug
users and underfunded charities, can we be surprised if we get
distorted results.

Mike Bolan,
Cremorne.
May 10 1999