CANBERRA SAYS DRUG MESSAGE WORKED

Almost one in five Australian parents believe it is OK for their children
to experiment with marijuana, according to new Federal Government research
on community attitudes to drugs.

Although 18 per cent of parents accepted their children experimenting with
marijuana, the parents said they would be concerned if the children used
other illicit drugs like ecstasy and heroin.

Drug experts said the findings showed that more needed to be done to tackle
cannabis use and addiction. One of Prime Minister John Howard's top drug
advisers, Brian Watters, said the finding was worrying and that it was
wrong for parents to be complacent about marijuana use.

"It's foolish to keep referring to drugs (like marijuana) as recreational
drugs as if they're some alternative to playing tennis or going swimming,"
he said.

Major Watters said complacency, and "almost an acceptance" of marijuana
use, would lead to increased use and more health problems.

The head of Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, Margaret Hamilton, was
not surprised by the figures and said more needed to be done.

The findings are contained in Federal Health Department research, released
yesterday, into the impact of last year's hard-hitting advertising
campaign, which aimed to get parents talking to their children about drugs.

The TV commercials used such images as a young drug addict dead inside a
bodybag and a girl, 16, screaming and striking out at her mother. At the
time, the advertisements were criticised by some drug workers, who said
shock tactics did not work and that the campaign was a waste of money.

But, according to the government research, the messages worked. About 60
per cent of parents said the campaign, which also included a booklet sent
to millions of homes, made it easier for them to discuss drugs with their
children. And 97 per cent of parents surveyed were aware of the campaign.

Launching a new post-detoxification centre in Sydney yesterday, Mr Howard
said the government's Tough On Drugs Strategy was making progress. In the
past five years there had been a big rise in drug seizures and less heroin
was available on the streets, he said.

"We are seizing more drugs, there are fewer deaths, the programs that we
are implementing in cooperation with the community are working. We can't,
as I say, declare any victory, we can't be complacent, but we are making
some progress."

Mr Howard welcomed the research findings and said getting parents to
communicate with their children on such social challenges as drugs was an
important responsibility. But drug experts and youth workers yesterday
questioned the campaign. VicHealth chief executive Rob Moodie said much
depended on whether the conversations between parents and children were
"realistic" and based on parents' willingness to listen rather than lecture.

"A family lecturing kids on drug use is likely to make them close their
ears. The most important question (they have to ask) is 'What's going on in
their lives that they have to take drugs?' " Dr Moodie said. John
Fitzgerald from Melbourne University's criminology department said
governments needed to tackle the drug problem in its entirety. The increase
in amphetamine injecting and resulting high rates of hepatitis C infection
showed hard drug abuse was still a reality despite a drop in heroin deaths.

But Professor Hamilton, who chaired a reference group that supervised the
campaign, said much of the criticism against the campaign was superficial
and misconceived.