Pubdate: Wed, 08 May 2002
Source: Age, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2002 The Age Company Ltd
Contact:  http://www.theage.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5
Author: Darren Gray and Julie Szego

CANBERRA SAYS DRUG MESSAGE WORKED

Almost one in five Australian parents believe it is OK for their children 
to experiment with marijuana, according to new Federal Government research 
on community attitudes to drugs.

Although 18 per cent of parents accepted their children experimenting with 
marijuana, the parents said they would be concerned if the children used 
other illicit drugs like ecstasy and heroin.

Drug experts said the findings showed that more needed to be done to tackle 
cannabis use and addiction. One of Prime Minister John Howard's top drug 
advisers, Brian Watters, said the finding was worrying and that it was 
wrong for parents to be complacent about marijuana use.

"It's foolish to keep referring to drugs (like marijuana) as recreational 
drugs as if they're some alternative to playing tennis or going swimming," 
he said.

Major Watters said complacency, and "almost an acceptance" of marijuana 
use, would lead to increased use and more health problems.

The head of Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, Margaret Hamilton, was 
not surprised by the figures and said more needed to be done.

The findings are contained in Federal Health Department research, released 
yesterday, into the impact of last year's hard-hitting advertising 
campaign, which aimed to get parents talking to their children about drugs.

The TV commercials used such images as a young drug addict dead inside a 
bodybag and a girl, 16, screaming and striking out at her mother. At the 
time, the advertisements were criticised by some drug workers, who said 
shock tactics did not work and that the campaign was a waste of money.

But, according to the government research, the messages worked. About 60 
per cent of parents said the campaign, which also included a booklet sent 
to millions of homes, made it easier for them to discuss drugs with their 
children. And 97 per cent of parents surveyed were aware of the campaign.

Launching a new post-detoxification centre in Sydney yesterday, Mr Howard 
said the government's Tough On Drugs Strategy was making progress. In the 
past five years there had been a big rise in drug seizures and less heroin 
was available on the streets, he said.

"We are seizing more drugs, there are fewer deaths, the programs that we 
are implementing in cooperation with the community are working. We can't, 
as I say, declare any victory, we can't be complacent, but we are making 
some progress."

Mr Howard welcomed the research findings and said getting parents to 
communicate with their children on such social challenges as drugs was an 
important responsibility. But drug experts and youth workers yesterday 
questioned the campaign. VicHealth chief executive Rob Moodie said much 
depended on whether the conversations between parents and children were 
"realistic" and based on parents' willingness to listen rather than lecture.

"A family lecturing kids on drug use is likely to make them close their 
ears. The most important question (they have to ask) is 'What's going on in 
their lives that they have to take drugs?' " Dr Moodie said. John 
Fitzgerald from Melbourne University's criminology department said 
governments needed to tackle the drug problem in its entirety. The increase 
in amphetamine injecting and resulting high rates of hepatitis C infection 
showed hard drug abuse was still a reality despite a drop in heroin deaths.

But Professor Hamilton, who chaired a reference group that supervised the 
campaign, said much of the criticism against the campaign was superficial 
and misconceived.
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