DIRE WARNING ON DRUGS FROM A TIRELESS WARRIOR

The old war horse has done it again, tackling the nation's drug problem in
the same way he did as a royal commissioner a quarter-century ago when he
dealt with the question of organised crime.

Now 84, Justice Athol Moffitt, who served more than 20 years as a NSW
Supreme Court judge, has produced a lively, 141-page no-holds-barred
exposition, Drug Alert, in simple, unvarnished language, about the drug
menace.

Published by Pan Macmillan Australia and retailing at $9.95, it targets
parents and teachers, whom Justice Moffitt believes are at the front-line.

Treatment for present-day addicts, with proposals for drug courts and
"shooting galleries" are one thing, but Justice Moffitt poses a very simple
question: what are we doing for the next generation?

The fact is, he says, that the generations of parents since the current
drug epidemic began in the 1960s have let their children down. The drugs
were new, outside the experience of most parents, and their long-term
effects unknown.

Parents, Justice Moffitt believes, have been nonplussed, and when deciding
their attitude have been swayed by false arguments: that parents should not
talk to children about it, that young people will take drugs anyway, that a
bit of experimentation does not matter, or that it is nobody else's
business.

Justice Moffitt does not believe any illicit drug-taking should be
tolerated, that the long-term effects of drugs - especially marijuana - are
still being recognised.

In fact, it was now being seen how dangerous the drugs were, especially
when Australians were "going mad" on amphetamines, he said. Ecstasy, whose
consumption rose when the user became more tolerant of it, damaged the
liver, with sometimes fatal consequences.

Justice Moffitt, recovering from a quadruple heart bypass operation, knows
what he is talking about. In May this year, he and two colleagues,
pharmacologist John Malouf and magistrate Craig Thompson, published an
academic study of drug-taking and its effects, Drug Precipice. Now,
however, Justice Moffitt wants a simpler, shorter version, drawing on the
longer study, for mass circulation.

He has written two other books, A Quarter to Midnight, dealing with
organised crime, and Project Kingfisher, dealing with the Australian and
British prisoners-of-war in North Borneo. He is specially committed to his
latest project.

"The more I have got into the subject of drugs, the more I have realised we
are going in the wrong direction," he said. "The parents, above all, are in
the superior position."

Every child today at some stage would be offered drugs, he said. Fifty per
cent would say no. The majority of young people were not drug-users. But
they were subject to pressure from those who were.

"Why not reverse peer pressure, in which kids look up to other kids who are
good role models?" he said. "Why not have the role models really understand
about drugs?"

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)