Pubdate: Tue, 27 Mar 2001
Source: Illawarra Mercury (Australia)
Copyright: 2001 Illawarra Newspapers
Contact:  282 Keira St, Wollongong NSW 2500
Fax: (02) 4226 3616
Website: http://www.illawarramercury.com/

DRUGS CAMPAIGN 'TURN 0FF' - P&C

The Federal Government's new anti-drugs campaign would discourage people 
from talking to their children rather than spurring them to take action, a 
NSW parents group said yesterday.

Included in the Howard Government's $27million national campaign are 
confronting television ads featuring images of children being zipped into 
body bags.

Parents and Citizens Association of NSW president Beverly Baker said 
although the underlying message of the policy was a good one, a fear 
campaign would never work.

"It just switches people off and they don't believe it could happen to 
them," Ms Baker said.

"It has never worked - making people afraid doesn't resonate, so they 
simply ignore it because they don't want to face it."

But she said encouraging families to talk openly about drugs was a good 
idea, because young people were too afraid to speak for fear of punishment.

"Self-disclosure should be encouraged, so the underlying message (of the 
Government's policy) is absolutely vital," she said.

Reverend Ray Richmond, the head of Sydney's Wayside Chapel, said the 
Government's new strategy was unlikely to achieve anything positive.

Rev Richmond said that although the Prime Minister would probably get good 
marks for focusing on families, children who were most in need of help were 
generally those without families to fall back on.

"The worry is that most people who have drug problems don't have families 
to go back to, and that's because of a hardline attitude that encourages 
parents to throw kids out," he said.

"There's not an ounce of evidence to indicate that this policy will do 
anything but make families feel better about themselves," he said.

The Salvation Army's Major Ken Sanz said the policy was a good initiative 
and didn't necessarily ignore addicts without families.

"It's about building up networks, encouraging people to belong to groups 
(in the absence of families) - sporting groups, church groups or whatever," 
he said.
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