People get to know there are not enough beds and don't bother trying. The Carr government's five-day drug summit is scheduled to take place after the March 27 election. There is a purpose for this delay. It is to ensure that law and order remains the central theme of the election and above all prevent any discussion on the social conditions that have been created by the Labor government and the profit system as a whole. These include mass unemployment, poverty, the slashing of social services and the lack of cheap recreational activities for young people.
Many people are appalled and concerned with the problem of drug and alcohol abuse.
No doubt the image of a young teenager injecting himself with heroin in an inner city laneway had the effect of producing a sense of shock and dismay. Yes, indeed something needs to be done. That requires a recognition, first and foremost, that drug addiction is a symptom of a diseased social order that offers the young, in particular, no solution. Complete reorganisation along socialist lines is needed to provide young people with decent secure jobs, and access to a full range of educational, sporting and recreational activities. Such a program will also provide the resources to establish first-class facilities for the treatment of drug addiction and other social ills.