LIBS CANDIDATE MAKES BRAVE DRUGS ADMISSION

FRANK ADMISSION: Reigning Darling Downs Miss Showgirl and Liberal Party
election candidate Mardi McLean, pictured when she was crowned Miss Showgirl
last year, has shocked people with her admission she battled heroin
addiction for many years.

Reigning Darling Downs Miss Showgirl Ms Mardi McLean concedes many people
will be shocked to learn she was a heroin addict for many years.

Twenty-two-year-old Ms McLean revealed the truth of her battle with heroin
as part of her candidacy for the seat of Bundamba at Saturday's State
election.

The former Warwick schoolgirl said she was not addicted when she won the
Darling Downs Miss Showgirl title last April and had been "clean'' for more
than a year.

But she readily admitted she had used heroin since her school days at
Brisbane's exclusive St Margaret's Anglican Grammar School.

A champion equestrian rider, Ms McLean said most people who became addicts
had a self-esteem problem, but she was lucky because she always had other
interests during her addiction, and these gave her hope.

Her candidacy was in part to publicise the Liberal Party's drug policy which
she said was far superior to Labor's policy. She said the Liberals' policy
was tough on drugs, but provided programs for recovering addicts.

She had not yet heard any reaction to her public admission, but conceded
some people would react negatively.

"They can think what they want and it doesn't worry me,'' she said.

She hoped her going public would help other addicts realise they could
recover and achieve.