SALVOS STOP SAYING 'NO'

THE Salvation Army has jettisoned its "just say no" approach to drug
and alcohol rehabilitation, forcing John Howard's chief drug adviser
and his best-known advocate of zero-tolerance policies to concede the
agency had allowed itself to be depicted as too hardline.

The Army's Brian Watters, the chairman of the Federal Government's
drug advisory council, earlier this year supported the jailing of
young drug addicts. But he said yesterday it was "unfortunate" the
public perceived the Salvation Army as "hardline moralistic".

Major Watters, a vocal opponent of controlled heroin trials, said his
role in that debate had meant people thought of the Salvos as "narrow
and proscriptive".

His comments followed statements by a senior Salvation Army drug and
alcohol director that the movement had in the past been guilty of
taking a hard line on abstinence.

"We need to be very honest with our young people about the good side
of drugs and the bad side of drugs, and the fact is there are people
who use heroin and use it safely," Major David Brunt said at the
launch of the Salvos' first comprehensive report on its national drug
and alcohol services.

"If I'm talking to an 18-year-old about his drinking problem, I'm
wiser to be talking about controlled drinking.

"It is a major shift for the Salvation Army" but not one supported by
all members.

In a softening of his usual stance, Major Watters said the Army had
pursued a policy of harm minimisation for most of its history.