Australian Drug and Alcohol Review 1988; 7:499-505 Australian drug policies 1988 and beyond a drugs campaign evaluation David McDonald, Heather Brown, Margaret Hamilton, Mel Miller and Eric Stephenson* NCADA Task Force on Evaluation, Canberra, A.C.T. Abstract: Australia's National Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NCADA) commenced in 1985. It is an innovative approach to drug policies, emphasing reducing the demand for drugs, addressing all drugs and involving a partnership of all governments in Australia and the non-government sector. The Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy agreed, in October 1988, to continue the Campaign into a second triennium in a substantially unchanged form. An evaluation of the first three years of the Campaign outlines its strengths and weaknesses, assesses the degree to which the Campaign's goals have been achieved and draws attention to the broader context within which the Campaign operates. The first triennium has been found to be successful, in that the NCADA has shown substantial movement towards achieving its goals and provides a firm basefor further achievements. Based on the findings of the evaluation, we point to a number of key policy issues in the drugs field which are facing Australian society today and which provide the context for further development of Australian drug policies. Keywords: substance abuse --prevention and control; health promotion; Australia. Introduction This paper, prepared by members of the former Task Force appointed by the Australian Minis- terial Council on Drug Strategy to evaluate the first triennium of Australia's National Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NCADA), seeks to outline the current status of drug policies in Australia, as seen through the results of the evaluation, and to identify some of the key issues in this field in 1988, as the nation moves beyond its bicentennial year. The paper briefly reviews the contents of the National Campaign Against Drug Abuse, outlines the processes used in its evaluation and the key evaluation results, and points to what the evalua- tion suggests to be key drug policy issues for Australia and the international community in 1988 and beyond, with particular reference to the second triennium of the NCADA, namely, the 1988-1991 period. Readers' attention is drawn to the full report of the NCADA Task Force on Evaluation.' It is hoped that a fuller article, describing the process and results of the evalua- tion, will be published in a later edition of Australian Drug and Alcohol Review. Australia's National Campaign Against Drug Abuse The NCADA was established by a special Premiers' Conference held in Canberra on 2 April 1985. It was called by the Prime Minister to establish a concerted program to address drug use and drug related problems in Australia and in doing so implemented the recommendations of a number of Royal Commissions and other en- quiries which pointed to the need for such concerted action. With the establishment of the Campaign, Australia had, for the first time, a truly national campaign against drug misuse, one which was supported both in policy and financial terms bv each of Australia's eight States and Territories and by the Commonwealth Govern- ment. The Campaign's aim is to "minimise the harm- ful effects of drugs on Australian society". In doing so, unlike similar campaigns in other countries, the primary emphasis is placed on treatment, prevention, research and other ac- tivities aiming ~o reduce the demand for drugs, *This paper represents the views of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of the organisations within which they work or have worked in the past.