wfn.org | Opening of Australian Drug Rehab Centre at Summit

[APD <APD_Info_Schweiz@compuserve.com>]

July 8, 2001
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
http://www.stanet.ch/APD

National Summit Marks Opening of Australian Drug Rehab 
Centre

Port Macquarie, Australia. (ANN/APD)     A long-term drug 
rehabilitation center that was established through the 
efforts of a local Seventh-day Adventist Church member 
opened in Port Macquarie, Australia, June 24.

Margaret McKay received $A1 million from a private donor 
to establish the centre, which she named after her son, 
David, who died of a methadone overdose in March 1997. 
The centre will eventually accommodate up to 30 people.

A two-day national drug summit, organized by McKay, the 
founder and president of Keep Our Kids Alive, preceded 
the opening of the centre. International speakers 
included Sandro Calvani, East Asia and Pacific regional 
representative for the United Nations International Drug 
Control Program, and Brian Watters, chair of the 
Australian National Council on Drugs. Mark Vaile, federal 
minister for trade, attended along with delegates from 
every Australian state, Sweden, the United States, and 
Vanuatu. Also present were Dr. Terry Butler and Dr. Percy 
Harrold, representing the health ministries department of 
the Adventist Church in the South Pacific. 

An estimated 500 people from about 20 community 
groups, including students from the local Adventist 
school, walked through the city declaring their support for 
a drug-free lifestyle.