OPERATORS RELIEVED AS INJECTING ROOM OPENS FOR BUSINESS

The group operating Australia's first legal injecting room says it is
relieved the facility has finally opened.

The medically supervised centre last night opened for four hours
after being set up in Kings Cross by the Uniting Church in an effort
to prevent drug overdoses.

It was a low key opening with only eight drug users taking advantage
of the facility after being recruited through a local needle exchange
program.

But the injecting room's medical director Dr Ingrid Van Beek expects
greater numbers of drug users will visit the centre once the word has
spread that it is open for business.

"We are expecting to accommodate between 150 and 200 injecting
episodes in the two four hour sessions each day," she said.

She says there were no drug overdoses at the injecting room last
night and the centre will reopen later today.