INJECTING ROOM TO GO AHEAD

Australia's first legal injecting centre for drug addicts will open within
weeks after a group of Kings Cross businesses yesterday lost a court battle
to scuttle the 18-month trial.

Supporters of the Uniting Church's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre
were elated yesterday when Justice Brian Sully dismissed the case in the
New South Wales Supreme Court.

With support from local businesses, brothels and sex shops, the Kings Cross
Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Inc had argued that the Uniting Church in
Australia Property Trust did not have the power to run an injecting
facility. The chamber also argued that NSW authorities had not properly
gauged community support before giving the church a licence.

In what he said was a difficult matter, Justice Sully dismissed the claims.
He found that the church trust could properly lease the Kings Cross
building for the injecting centre and that authorities had acted reasonably
and legally.

The Bracks Government said the decision did not improve the prospects for a
trial of supervised injecting facilities in Victoria.

Reverend Harry Herbert, executive director of UnitingCare and responsible
for the centre, yesterday said the court's decision was a "comprehensive
vindication" for the trial.

"Surely to goodness we've had enough discussion about the issue, it is only
a trial. We won't know whether it's a good thing or a bad thing unless we
do it. And we need to do it," he said.

The centre resulted from the NSW Drug Summit of 1999. NSW Special Minister
of State John Della Bosca yesterday stressed that the centre was only a trial.

The chamber's vice-president, barrister Malcolm Duncan, said he was
considering an appeal. He said he believed the judgment contained errors in
law. "If they open the thing, they open it at their peril," he said. It
risked being raided by the Australian Federal Police, he said.

The chamber was not against the idea of an injecting room, but they wanted
it to be more discreet. They claimed it would have a "honey pot effect",
attracting more drug users to the area.

The group also believes that the centre should be in the Sydney suburb of
Cabramatta - recently described in a crime report as Sydney's heroin central.

But drug users yesterday welcomed the decision. Gideon Warhaft, of the NSW
Users and AIDS Association, said there was a lot of "positive anticipation"
among users.