FACE TO FACE WITH A FAMILY TORN APART

They are in many ways the kind of Australian battlers that John Howard
likes to romanticise.

With a home in the Melbourne suburbs, both parents work hard, they
don't drink or smoke and when their four children were young they
indulged in wholesome activities such as hiking, camping and scouts.
But from their teen years onwards, all four of those children became
heavily involved with drugs, two with heroin.

Yesterday the Prime Minister was confronted by the reality of what
drugs had done to this family.

At the announcement of the Government's $20 million Tough On Drugs
strategy, the parents (whose names cannot be used for legal reasons)
took the opportunity to tell the nation's leader just how tough it
already was.

The mother said she felt the Prime Minister's focus up to now had been
on rehabilitation. ``I told him that in my experience the families of
people involved with drugs need support, too.

``Our family is still together, we are handling it, but that is
because we have had counselling and support,'' she said.

``I also told him that counselling and support needed to be available
immediately that kids decided to get off heroin or marijuana. It is
not good if they have to wait a week or two.''

The family lives in a leafy suburb in the Dandenong foothills. There
is lots of space and there is bush nearby: things we are led to
believe kids need for growing up.

But in the hallway of their modest home, there are signs that things
are not quite right - holes bashed in walls and doors.

``That was when one of our sons had a fight with his girlfriend,''
said the father. ``That was when another couldn't find the cone of his
bong and attacked his brother.''

Their second-eldest son, aged 23, said he was comfortable with his
parents' actions and their talking about the family's problem. His
bottom jaw shook as he told how he had been smoking marijuana since he
was 13 and now said he needed half a gram a day.

``I can't think without it, I feel so tense if I haven't had a smoke.
If I don't have a bong before I go to bed I can't sleep. I do want to
get off it.

``Most people take it to alter their perception of reality. My advice
to any person starting to use it is to stop. I know in saying that I'm
a hypocrite. Just don't do it. Stay straight.''

The father, who used to be in the army, said drug use was widespread
among the children of service personnel, blaming the constant moves
that disrupt education and social networks.

He said his boys had the sort of personalities that made friends
easily, but they do that by being very accommodating to the group.
``That is part of the problem, because if the other kids are into
something, then they are into it.''