Pubdate: Tue, 12 Sep 2000
Source: Age, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2000 David Syme & Co Ltd
Contact:  250 Spencer Street, Melbourne, 3000, Australia
Website: http://www.theage.com.au/
Author: Darren Gray, Canberra

DRUG LESSONS URGED FOR ALL CHILDREN

Primary and secondary schoolchildren should be given drug education at 
every year level to curb drug use, according to the Prime Minister's top 
drug advisory group.

The Australian National Council on Drugs also wants ambulance officers and 
paramedics to follow up overdose victims and steer them into 
rehabilitation, needle exchange programs and health centres.

In a paper released yesterday on heroin overdosing the council urges a 
range of measures to curb Australia's spiralling drug toll. The paper aims 
to help state, territory and national governments develop a national strategy.

Although the group does not explicitly support supervised heroin injecting 
rooms, it said that, should they be tried, they needed to be rigorously 
evaluated.

The council, chaired by the Salvation Army's Brian Watters, said education 
programs must be implemented to better manage overdoses once they had 
occurred. To do this, it called for programs that taught drug users and 
their families basic resuscitation techniques and other practical skills 
that could save the life of an overdose victim.

According to the most recent annual figures, 737 people died from heroin 
overdoses in 1998. But drug workers believe the toll climbed sharply in 
1999 and again this year.

According to the paper, more cooperation is needed between police and 
health authorities to handle drug overdoses.

To tackle heroin use among addicts the council called for:

More drug rehabilitation beds.

Wider availability of methadone.

More education on the risks of mixing drugs.

A national education campaign for drug users.

The council also urged trials of programs that would see the revival drug 
naloxone more widely available. At the moment naloxone is carried by every 
Melbourne ambulance, hospital emergency departments and some doctors' clinics.

The council's executive officer, Gino Vumbaca, said education was crucial 
in the fight against heroin. "Kids need to know that there are drugs in our 
society, that people do use them and there are a whole range of them, legal 
and illegal. They need to understand what the dangers are of using drugs 
and what the implications are," he said.

Margaret Hamilton, a council member and director of the Turning Point 
Alcohol and Drug Centre, said it was vital to better educate the families 
and friends of drug users about overdose signs and what to do after an 
overdose. . "Families do care and they can do more to help avoid 
overdoses," she said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D