PM DRUG ADVISER ON ZERO-TOLERANCE BODY

The Prime Minister's chief drug adviser served as a director for a radical
zero-tolerance drug foundation that sought money from the Federal
Government, it was reported last night.

The ABC's Four Corners said Australian National Council of Drugs chairman
Brian Watters joined the board of the radical Freedom from Drugs Foundation
in June 2000.

The foundation was based on the ideas of Swedish abstinence organisation
Hassela, which promotes prison terms for addicts who do not comply with
treatment.

The ABC said Major Watters, a Salvation Army campaigner hand-picked by
Prime Minister John Howard to lead the drugs council, personally endorsed
the foundation's business plan.

The plan said the Federal Government was bound to support the foundation's
approach and offered to give the Coalition credit for expected successes in
drug treatment if it was re-elected.

"This may flow through to a political opportunity for the Howard
Government," the ABC quoted the document as saying.

"In fact, we may be able to interest them in a pre-election pledge to
devote millions to the cause."

Major Watters told the ABC he was no longer involved with the foundation
and while he never formally disclosed his directorship to the drugs
council, he had been open with fellow council members about it.

But several members said he had never mentioned it to them, the ABC
reported. The ABC said Hassela had not received any federal funding and its
operations had stalled.