SPEAKING in support of his proposal for more safe injecting rooms Anglican Primate, Dr Peter Carnley, stated that the drug problem was an extremely complex one for which there was no simple solution and as such, the community had to look more broadly at the problem.

If intelligent people, such as Dr Carnley, are able to recognise that the methods currently employed to address this problem are simply not working, why is our Prime Minister unable to do so?

Perhaps it is because Mr Howard, together with many of our political leaders, fear an electoral backlash if they are perceived to be soft on drugs and accordingly do not have the intestinal fortitude to take a leadership role.

Is it too cynical to suggest that our political leaders would rather see increasing numbers of our young people incarcerated for crimes they commit to fund their habits or worse, overdose, than to take decisions they fear may result in loss of office?

Surely this problem is of such magnitude that a bipartisan approach needs to be taken in the way the guns issue was handled a number of year ago.

IAN DE LANDELLES, Hawker