Dr NELSON(10.27 p.m.) —I rise in the adjournment debate this evening to congratulate and encourage the Victorian Premier, Mr Jeff Kennett. I do so for the leadership he has shown in getting the drug debate up and running in Victoria. I think those who have been following the drug debate in Victoria could be forgiven for thinking that it was all about the legalisation of cannabis. In fact, Premier Kennett's Drug Advisory Council, under the chairmanship of the conservative medical academic David Penington, was the response to a series of heroin related deaths and, finally, an incident that was probably too confronting for any political leader and indeed the community.

In February, Melbourne's Herald-Sun ran a front page photograph of three kids, 12, 14 and 15 years of age, injecting heroin in a school toilet. They shared a single needle. The sickening image was captured by a surveillance camera secretly placed by the headmaster of the school. I think that issue in itself was unfortunately not the subject of public debate.

Why then did Professor Penington's council head off in the direction of cannabis and recommend liberalisation of cannabis laws to boot? The problem is that in the first instance tobacco—and young people from 12 to 17 years smoke 6½ million cigarettes every week—is the gateway drug that greatly increases the likelihood of young people trying marijuana when it is offered to them. In fact, those who smoke cigarettes are 28 times more likely to say yes to cannabis. Those who sell cannabis invariably have other drugs to peddle, thereby introducing their frequently innocent buyers to a variety of life-sapping products.

The question I ask—and one I think the Australian community needs to ask—is: are we really listening to young people? I think if we were we would find that they will tell us that drug education is frequently seen as irrelevant, hypocritical and lacking credibility. In the context of the debate which has just occurred in Victoria, and not often enough in other parts of Australia, people ought to remember that the national drug strategy has established that in one year over half of teenagers between the ages of 14 and 19 years will be offered cannabis. A quarter of them would have smoked it in the last 12 months and 40 per cent would have smoked it at some time in the past. The cannabis trade in Australia is estimated to be worth some $2 billion. In the state of Queensland, for example, the CJC estimates its total value at $652 million a year, second only to sugar as a cash crop.

The Victorian government is to be given credit for now putting $25 million into drug education programs in Victoria. Even though we could go a lot further, compared with the national commitment of some $37 million for drug education, it is a substantial move in the right direction.

But what members of this chamber and, I think, Australians generally need to remember is that what we are doing with heroin, speed, cannabis and ecstasy is clearly not working. The legalisation of these drugs is not the answer either and those who think it is need look no further than tobacco for evidence of failure. However, drug users and addicts in particular should be treated as the pitiable people that they are and much less like criminals. Those who peddle drug misery deserve much more attention from the law.

We need to direct our energies to addressing those conditions which breed a disillusionment with the future and a sense of hopelessness about the present. If ever an issue begged leadership—glimpses of which we have seen from the Victorian Premier, Mr Jeff Kennett—it is this one. The Victorian Premier made the Victorian parliament available for discussion of this issue, about which all Australian parents in particular are concerned. It is a model that could be applied to this parliament not only for drug debates but, indeed, for other pressing issues of concern.