COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS WANTS TRIAL OF MEDICALLY PRESCRIBED HEROIN

The Royal Australian College of Physicians wants a trial of medically
prescribed heroin to treat addicts for whom other methods have failed.

The position coincides with the college's call for Australian governments
to do more to reduce harm and death from illegal drugs.

A heroin trial had political support in Victoria in 1996 before it was
shelved after intervention by the Prime Minister.

But Professor David Pennington says it is inevitable opposition to such a
trial will be overcome.

"There are many groups around the country who see this as a necessary way
to go for those who other forms of treatment are ineffective and out of the
environment of crime and prostitution and trafficking that supports their
dependency and it is something that saves money for the community and
reduces the penalties of crime," he said.