BATTLELINES are being drawn ahead of Friday's premiers conference on drugs with Peter Beattie accusing John Howard of failing to adopt a national approach to combat Australia's heroin problem.

Yesterday's attack on the Prime Minister by the Queensland Premier came on the eve of Mr Beattie's Cabinet being briefed by drugs authority David Pennington, and as federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley planned today's release in Perth of a discussion paper on drugs which proposes the establishment of a national co-ordination unit to oversee drug spending and treatment.

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