Pubdate: Thu, 20 May 1999
Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Contact:  http://www.smh.com.au/
Author: Deborah Cameron

DRAWBACKS APLENTY AS TOBACCO GATHERING RUNS OUT OF PUFF

The NSW Health Minister, Mr Knowles, went up in smoke and shortly afterwards
so did the Opposition spokeswoman, Mrs Jillian Skinner.

Tobacco addiction is apparently off the boil as a drug issue. Federal
politicians expressed no interest in attending the "other summit" on tobacco
today at the NSW State Library.

The only politician left standing is the Democrat Dr Arthur
Chesterfield-Evans, a former graffiti campaigner against tobacco companies.

The chief executive officer of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), Ms Anne
Jones, is convening the summit and worries that it will be overlooked.

Tobacco, she says, kills and cripples more people, costs the economy more in
illness and treatment and causes more anxiety for more families than any
other drug. The Premier, Mr Carr, recognised as much when he opened the NSW
Drug Summit, saying that 950 people went to hospital each week because of
tobacco while 70 people went to hospital because of illegal drugs.

But for politicians it's a matter of community alarm and decibels. "A
picture of someone languidly sitting back and puffing on a cigarette just
isn't the same as seeing a 15-year-old lying in an alley and half dead from
heroin," said Professor Bernard Stewart, who heads the Cancer Control
Program of the South Eastern Area Health Service and will speak at the
tobacco summit.

What worries Professor Stewart is that Federal funding for anti-smoking and
quit campaigns has collapsed. In the Budget, $2 million was set aside for
the anti-smoking fight while $221 million over four years was earmarked for
fighting illegal drugs.

The president of the Australian Medical Association, Dr David Brand, says
the balance is wrong. "Smoking takes 18,000 lives every year and costs $27
billion ... it's a monster, I can tell you, just huge," he said.

Dr Brand, a reformed smoker, says surveys are showing that children and
teenagers are taking up a habit which is extremely difficult to give up.

"Hopefully some of the money being spent deterring schoolchildren from using
heroin will also have an anti-smoking message."

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