SENATOR CHALLENGED ON DRUGS

JUSTICE Minister Amanda Vanstone, an advocate of random drug testing
of MPs, yesterday demanded a senator reveal if she had used illegal
substances.

The extraordinary demand was put to Deputy Leader of the Australian
Democrats Natasha Stott Despoja, who later said she had tried marijuana.

"I have tried marijuana but I don't take drugs," Senator Stott Despoja
told The Daily Telegaph.

Senator Vanstone had said the Democrat told a conference that young people
"enjoyed recreational experiences on illegal drugs ..... drugs often
celebrated in youth culture." The Minister told the Senate: "I invite her to
say whether she endorses the recreational use of illegal drugs.

"If so, which ones, how often and how much."

Senator Stott Despoja said outside the Senate she was saddened the
minister had "made cheap political points" out of her speech by taking
remarks out of context.

She had addressed the Australian Drug Foundation's first International
Conference on Drugs and Young People in Melbourne on November 22.

"It wasn't a kiddie discussion of drugs. It was serious," she said,
and had led to parents of heroin victims calling her.

She had told the conference: "It is a fact that some young people
enjoy using drugs. I am sure there are people horrified to hear that,
or who regard it as a not particularly helpful thing to say.

"But it is a fact that many young people have enjoyed recreational
experiences on illegal drugs."

In July, 1990 Senator Vanstone urged drug testing in Parliament to set
a good example for drug-free workplaces elsewhere.

She called for creation of a testing unit with the power to force MPs
to give on-the-spot urine samples.

Senator Vanstone, then an Opposition backbencher, said members of
Parliament found using substances such as cocaine and marijuana should
be sacked.

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady