LABOR WOULD CONSIDER DRUG TRIAL SAYS BEAZLEY

A Labor government would consider favourably any proposal for a
heroin trial, Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said today.

Australia's top level crime fighting body today backed a heroin trial
with addicts supplied out of a government repository.

The National Crime Authority (NCA) said options previously deemed
unpalatable needed to be considered to help tackle the rising problem
of drugs and organised crime.

Mr Beazley said a Labor government would consider any proposal for a
trial put to them by one of the states or territories.

"Our position is that we would consider any approach that came to us
from a state government to conduct such a trial," he told reporters.

"We would have a disposition to view it favourably and we would look
at our international obligations to see what we needed to do to clear
it in the context of those international obligations."