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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 6 Hansard (14 May) . . Page.. 1574 ..

MR PRATT (continuing):

I often hear it said, "What we are doing-harm minimisation simply is not working." So we must try something else. Harm reduction or minimisation alone must not negate other vital strategies in schools and the community. Harm minimisation will always play an integral role, but it must not reduce complementary strategies, which I fear it is currently doing.

I suspect it has shaped the minimalist approach taken by some educators and some people in the community who are concerned with drugs education. I feel that, in some places, drugs education is aimed at helping school children to engage safely in drug activities, rather than teaching them not to engage, or teaching that drugs are dangerous and destructive.

I call on the minister to direct his department, as a matter of urgency, to design, plan and implement assertive strategies programs in all ACT schools, including primary schools. I believe that, in accordance with his duty of care, the department must ensure that adequate, more assertive programs for both general education and interventions for children at risk are undertaken. Given the seriousness of the situation, this means that DECS needs to run a set of centrally controlled programs in all schools, with local schools running their own activities to complement departmental activities.

Mr Speaker, I urge that four steps be taken. Firstly, I have proposed a departmental program for all children. This would involve a series of graduated subprograms tailored for each year level, taking into account the sensitivities of drug debates with little children. Programs for, say, 11 and 12-year-olds could be more explicit, but I will leave it to departmental experts to determine where those maturity and need-to-know thresholds should be.

I stress that firm, well delivered and regular programs need to target earlier ages-for example, police befriending school children on regular visits, or building on the Kenny Koala program. This should be done on a regular basis. Perhaps community workers with a background in drug rehabilitation could speak to school children at the correct level, where we know that that sort of discussion would not be counterproductive.

I also believe that school curricula-starting early-need focused, powerful lessons about drug behaviour. Drugs should be deglamorised and the stark reality of the outcome of drug taking painted. This would be an "integral to curriculum" driven program, supplementing the main program. The interwoven approach to keeping children aware of this dread is working in Sweden, and I believe we can integrate these types of lessons into the curriculum.

The second step is that high school students should meet drug addicts. They need to know that drug taking is dangerous, that it is rarely controllable, that it is not short term, and that it often leads to a down-spiral into hell. They need to see and hear graphic videos which show death, squalor and degradation. They should hear about broken families, and about addiction-driven theft from loved ones.

At the extremes, perhaps they ought to see the drug pushers, prostitutes and pimps. They need to understand the loss of trust exercised by kids who are caught in the rut, and see the personal pain suffered by both the kids who are affected and their families. They

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