PM STANDS FIRM AGAINST HEROIN TRIAL

Prime Minister John Howard today reaffirmed his government's opposition to
free heroin for drug addicts.

Australia's top crime fighting body, the National Crime Authority (NCA),
yesterday supported a heroin trial, with addicts being supplied out of a
government repository.

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

However, Mr Howard said as long as he remained prime minister, heroin
trials would not be held.

"Claims we are losing the fight are not borne out by the evidence," he told
Brisbane radio 4BC.

He said figures showed a sharp decline in heroin deaths while police
seizures of illegal drugs were higher.

Mr Howard said free heroin trials in Switzerland had not been supported by
the World Health Organisation.

"We would not give any aid or comfort to any state that considered
conducting free heroin trials," he said.