Pubdate: Mon, 10 Jul 2000 Source: Newcastle Herald (Australia) Copyright: 2000 Newcastle Newspapers Pty Limited Address: P.O. Box 510G, Newcastle NSW 2300 Fax: +61 2 4979 5888 Website: http://www.nnp.com.au/html/herald_index.html Author: Des McMeekin THE DRUGS-AND-JAIL SOCIETY In Australian prisons 80% of the population are there because of their addiction to drugs or the selling of drugs. Do you think the recent decision by the NSW Labor Government to spend $300million building a new prison to house the growing convictions for drug dealing and its use is the way to go? Do you think that the $300million could be better spent on keeping the drug culture out of prison and that there should be an education program instigated to teach your children the futility of being caught up in the peer pressures to experiment with drugs? Do you think that if your children get caught up in the drug scene they should be treated as a criminal or should it be a health problem? If you were a drug addict how would you expect society to treat you? In Sweden there are no people in jail for taking drugs. It is treated as a health problem. They have the lowest percentage of drug addicts in the world. Des McMeekin, Whitebridge - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck