Media release

New drug funding targets prevention, support and assistance to families

The Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD) has welcomed today’s Federal Government commitment of over $4.7million to a broad range of programs and services targeting families and drug issues. The Government’s commitment to work with the Council to establish a special fund to assist and support children of drug users, whilst their parents are in treatment, also gained strong support.

The Chairman of the ANCD, Major Brian Watters, stated “For some time now the ANCD has been advocating a greater financial commitment to educate and support families in avoiding or dealing with the pain and suffering of drug use. These funds will not only assist parents and carers to prevent drug use, it will also assist those already dealing with children using drugs. I am particularly pleased to see a new focus on the difficulties facing grandparents placed in situations where they take on the task of raising their grandchildren due to the drug use problems of their own adult children. This is unfortunately far more common than many of us realise.”

The following services and programs are to be funded:

How to Drug Proof Your Kids (Vic—National Expansion)	$645,000
Family Drug Support (NSW—National Expansion)	$450,000
Parent to Parent (NSW—National Expansion)	$570,000
Drug Arm Family Project (Qld)	$510,000
Grandparents Raising Grandchildren (Tas—Statewide Expansion)	$540,000
Odyssey House (Vic)	$1,100,000
Drug Beat Family Programs (SA)	$450,000
Teen Challenge (WA)	$240,000
Children of Drug Users Support Fund (National)	To be developed with ANCD
Total	$4,745,000

Major Watters added, “the value of the family in both prevention and encouraging drug using parents into treatment should not be underestimated and I very much hope that some of these measures will provide the necessary access and incentives for parents to address their drug use problems and hopefully reduce the risk to their children of developing similar problems later in life.”

The Council also advised that it will continue to work with the Department of Family and Community Services to develop strategies to address some of the long term systematic problems faced by parents, carers and children coping with drug use problems.

15 December 2004

The ANCD is the principal advisory body to Government on drug and alcohol issues.

For further information, please contact:

Major Brian Watters (ANCD Chairman)
0400 780 509

Mr David Crosbie (ANCD Member & Odyssey House Vic, CEO)
0419 624 420

Mr Gino Vumbaca (ANCD Executive Officer)
0408 244 552

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