Thank you, Nick Xenophon, for your informative and timely article.

For thirty years, young people in western societies have been bombarded by pro illegal drug propaganda in movies, magazines and pop songs which reinforced the message. "Do drugs, everybody does it."

This propaganda reached it's height during the 1990's when a host of youth oriented movies like Pulp Fiction, Clueless, and Trainspotting presented to the young and impessionable, that taking illegal drugs was for the cool and hip. The result of allowing our media to be the promoters of illegal drug abuse is now manifest in our rising suicide and lethal overdose rates.

If we as a society can understand that allowing cigarette companies to advertise their wares will lead to significant increases in the number of mainly adolescents from taking a dangerous and addictive drug like nicotine. How is it that we can not make the same connection when pop stars, (who are presented as the leaders of the young generation) openly endorse drug abuse to their young audiences?

Yes,but we should be talking about prevention rather then cures.

I find this whole rap sleazy culture of criminality and drugs disgusting,with it's protestations of social and ethic oppression as an excuse for all manner of degrading language,and reasons not to improve their intellect/attitudes.

Rap should have died an natural death years ago,but we have just played to the lowest common denominator,no talent,creativity,courage or real passion.

Couldn't agree more with the two previous posts. The glamourisation of drug taking began with 60's pop culture which is a blight on a section of the baby boomer generation.

Civil libertarians are an ancient left-over of the "personal rights before community wellbeing" attitiude of the seventies and clearly,with the Bob Browns of this world, support the supposed "right" to be exposed to and use drugs. Anyone who supports the "sensible use" of drugs is subscribing to a nonsense. Its like the sensible use of explosives. Its bound to get out of hand.

And "Safe Injecting Rooms"? There is no such thing. How can you inject yourself with drugs "safely" ?

The only people who could use drugs sensibly are those who don't need them in the first place.

Any wonder Iran, Afghanistan and other anti-western nations are big suppliers.?

The truth about using cannabis. I have been smoking cannabis for the last thirty years and on a nearly daily basis for the last twenty. I don't have any mental disorders and worked at mostly labouring jobs in that period.Because it naturally grows better quality in each new generation, I use a fraction of the amount I used to use to reach the same high. My habit costs me about $2 a day. I haven't used any other drugs because cannabis always allows me respite from the worries of the world, for a few hours anyway.Like alcohol, its effects only lasts a few hours. Unlike alcohol it can be detected in the blood for months. From experience I found that having more than one "session" a day is useless as it takes more to get the same high with each session in a day. I believe it is at this point where the unwary or impatient get caught in an ever increasing spiral of drug abuse. I have talked to many people while 'under the influence', including police,a judge and polititians and very few knew unless I told them. People who have known me for years know that my habit hasn't changed me one iota...........Perry

It is a rare occasion you here this amount of rubbish spew forth from one person's mouth.

FACT (further FACTS can be found here http://www.hepatitisc.org.au/resources/hepcreview.html):

"More than 800 needle services operate in NSW. Research demonstrates that they do not encourage drug use or act as “honey pots”. Nor do they interfere with the work of police, who support the program. Needle programs operate alongside, and not in opposition to, drug treatment services. Last year in NSW, about 6,000 drug users were referred to drug treatment programs and other health services by the program. Needle programs benefit the whole community. By preventing the spread of HIV among drug users, they also protect their non-drug-using sexual partners and children from becoming infected." http://www.hepatitisc.org.au/resources/documents/50_1.pdf

Atman: Blaming the "glamourisation" of drug taking doesn't make sense - it implies that anyone who found it glamorous is going to try it / use it / get addicted to it, which isn't the case. And the reason they're called "safe injecting rooms" is because there's no chance of contaminating others with the needles and it's in a controlled environment. It would be irresponsible not to have safe injecting rooms. Compulsory use of the safe injecting rooms would achieve more than zero tolerance because prohibition doesn't work.

Re the article: It's trying to say that drug taking is directly proportional to availability. I'm sure there's many other contributing factors, eg, age, welfare, education, rural v's urban, etc.

I'd like to see more information on how a direct comparison of drug use can be made between two countries that have two different welfare systems, different culture, different climates, different demographics, different geography