Pubdate: Tue, 01 Feb 2000 Source: Courier-Mail, The (Australia) Copyright: 2000 News Limited Contact: GPO Box 130, Brisbane, Queensland 4001 Fax: (07) 3666 6696 Website: http://www.thecouriermail.com.au/ Author: Malcolm Cole DRUG EDUCATION FUNDS CUT Funding for drug education in Queensland schools has fallen by 80 percent in three years, prompting accusations the State Government has turned its back on the problem. The Alcohol and Drug Foundation said internationally recognised drug education programmes had been shelved, leaving Queensland the worst-performing state in school-based prevention. But the Government said the decentralisation of drug education meant such programmes were no longer needed or suitable, with the material covered in the health and physical education syllabus. Education Minister Dean Wells said drug education also was addressed through school pastoral care programmes, other school subjects and through the introduction of nurses into high schools. A Review of Drug Education in Schools, carried out by Education Queensland last year, found the state spent less than any other on drug education in the last financial year, and had just two officers working part-time on school-based drug programmes. Even small jurisdictions such as Tasmania and the ACT employed more drug education officers. The review said Queensland was the only state without a formal consultation process to allow schools, parents and other government agencies to work together to reduce drug use. Alcohol and Drug Foundation chief executive officer Bob Aldred said the Government had effectively "expelled" drug education from schools. "What was an internationally acclaimed programme in the 1980s has been reduced to a policy on drug education without the resources, training or commitment essential for an effective programme," Mr Aldred said. State funding for drug education has fallen from $781,000 in 1995-96 to $166,000 last financial year, despite a promise from Mr Wells that the Government would spend $282,000. But Mr Wells said individual state schools answered the need for drug education in their local communities and contributed money from their general funding. "The need for targeted central funds has reduced because Education Queensland's drug education strategies now put the focus at the school level and provide schools with discretionary funds to meet local priorities," he said. He also said his department had since questioned some of the figures contained within the report. Mr Aldred said the Government should outline specific targets for school drug programmes and pro vide adequate funding for drug- reduction measures. "At the moment we've only a policy that says they should be doing it," he said. "But there's no compulsion, no evaluation, no forecast outcomes and no money to do it." Mr Wells said individual school districts collected statistics and monitored local conditions. Opposition education spokesman Bob Quinn said the Government had failed to act on a 1996 survey which found more than 50percent of Year 12 students had used marijuana and 10percent hard drugs. - --- MAP posted-by: Eric Ernst