NO INJECTING ROOMS OR HEROIN TRIALS: PM

Prime Minister John Howard yesterday repeated his opposition to safe
injecting rooms and prescription heroin trials as the government's $27.5
million anti-drugs blitz kicked into gear.

Mr Howard said Australia needed a balanced response to the drugs problem
that involved education, crime prevention, law enforcement and rehabilitation.

"The reason why I'm against heroin injecting rooms and heroin trials is
they give a degree of advance ... they imply an acceptance of something
that can have that devastating result," he said.

Mr Howard said most of the Australian public did not support safe injecting
rooms and heroin trials. Nor did the two controversial measures - which
have to date been vigorously opposed by the Howard Government - have the
backing of most drug experts, he said.

In a vigorous interview with youth radio station Triple J, Mr Howard said
it was crucial that young people be kept alive. "One way is to communicate
to people from the very beginning the folly, the stupidity and the tragedy
of starting drug-taking in the first place. That would be far more
effective in keeping people alive than heroin injecting rooms," he said.

The Federal Opposition has said that if it wins government it would assist
states who put up proposals to establish safe injecting rooms and heroin
trials.

Meanwhile, the first of about eight million information booklets, to be
sent to every Australian household, are expected to arrive in letter boxes
today. The booklet urges parents to discuss drugs openly with their
children and features a foreword written by Mr Howard.

One section of the booklet is devoted to informing parents of the tell-tale
signs of drug use by teenagers. Parents should also be on the lookout for
mood swings, changes in eating patterns and a tendency for a teenager to
withdraw from the family, it says.