RYAN'S GLOOM OVER DRUGS

POLICE Commissioner Peter Ryan has admitted the State's law enforcement
officers are are not winning the war against drugs.

In an interview with the Daily Mail newspaper in London, Mr Ryan said drugs
remained at the root of most crime in NSW.

"No, we are not winning on the drugs front," he told the newspaper.

Mr Ryan's office claimed yesterday the comments were not new but they drew
an imediate response from Premier Bob Carr, who called for greater
community support in the war against drugs.

Mr Carr said the fight against drugs could only be won with the involvement
of all members of the community.

"The war against drugs involves more than the police in the front line," Mr
Carr said.

"It involves every family, every school, sporting club in this state.

"I would appeal to the community to make it a war we can win by making it
their battle.

"I am sure that is what Peter Ryan was trying to communicate."

Despite the seizure of almost 400kg of heroin in October last year on the
NSW mid north coast, police admit they are battling to stop large
quantities of hard drugs hitting the streets.

Mr Ryan's spokesman said there has been a surge in heroin availability in
the last couple of years, cocaine purity had increased, and the street
value of drugs had dropped.

But it would be wrong to suggest that Mr Ryan believed the war on drugs was
being lost.

"He did not say we are losing the war on drugs," he said.

"There are three things that can happen - you're either winning the war,
you're keeping up, or you're losing. I don't think he's suggesting we're
losing. That line was never said by the Commissioner."

The spokesman said Mr Ryan had explained to the Daily Mall sports columnist
Ian Wooldridge that Sydney had a bad drug problem, but it was no different
to any other big city's problem.

However Opposition Pollee spokesman Andrew Tink said Mr Ryan's comments had
to be acted upon immediately by the Government.

He said the key problem in the fight against drugs was that the number of
police acting full time on the problem had been cut from 300 to 50 by the
Carr Government.

"To have 50 police solely dedicated to tackling the drug problem is not
enough," Mr Tink said.

"This is a manpower issue that the Government has got to address. Without a
higher level of resources directed at tracking down major dealers you are
not going to make progress."