Pubdate: Mon, 21 May 2012 Source: Parramatta Sun (Australia) Copyright: 2012 Fairfax Media Contact: http://www.parramattasun.com.au/feedback.aspx?data_id=2422 Website: http://www.parramattasun.com.au/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5303 Author: Mark Metherell POLICIES SENDING 'MIXED MESSAGES' DRUG Free Australia may not be a household name but its leaders claim a role in repelling further moves towards what they see as the evil of drug decriminalisation. It fears the "tough on drugs" regime of the Howard government is unravelling, with the abandonment of the school drug education strategy and declining use of community advertising campaigns. Unhealthy attitudes towards illicit drugs were "now moving upward again", the executive officer of DFA, Jo Baxter, said. Lighter-touch laws for cannabis use in places such as South Australia and the ACT had gone too far towards a drug culture of "normalisation". "Our view is that Australia's illicit drug policy is too lenient, sending mixed messages to our youth," she said. She cited findings that Australia had among the highest cannabis and amphetamine use in the world but rejected the Australia21 group's declaration that the war on drugs had failed. The policy of harm minimisation over the past 25 years had left a "train wreck", she said. It had devoted much funding to drug maintenance programs rather than helping people recover from addiction. The DFA's research director, Gary Christian, said while DFA opposed decriminalisation, it did not support hardline approaches but rather a greater emphasis on Swedish-style compulsory "drug-free" rehabilitation policies. He questioned the widely hailed reduction of heroin overdose deaths in Kings Cross, saying many overdoses resulted from users trying out hazardous cocktails confident in the knowledge that help was at hand. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D