QUIET AND LEAFY, A MECCA FOR USERS

With elm trees shading cafes and a bustling village shopping strip,
Kensington is an unlikely drug mecca, but the quiet inner-city suburb has
emerged as one of Melbourne's heroin hot spots.

Twelve months ago, the local community health centre had about 20 requests
for needles a day. Now staff at the centre are pushed to the limit handling
as many as 120 requests daily, often from people already strung out on heroin.

By their own admission, staff at the facility are cracking, would like to
have the program moved - they are situated across the street from a primary
school - and are looking for new premises for the needle facility.

"This is not an appropriate place to have this sort of program, but we have
a duty of care," says facility general manager John Macdonald. "It is
difficult juggling the rights of a community with the rights of drug users."

Just before Christmas, traders in the area called an urgent meeting with
Victoria Police, local councils and welfare groups after a sharp increase
in robberies and petty crime in the area, a problem exacerbated by the
recent shortage of heroin and the doubling of prices.

Traders have been reluctant to speak out in the past - they've seen the
damage done to trading in Footscray and Collingwood once those suburbs were
branded as heroin hot spots - but are now speaking out after a string of
robberies and hold-ups.

"We need to speak out. We don't want to have traders and shoppers living in
fear," says president of the Kensington Traders Association Rick Richards.
"We want a crackdown and a blitz. We feel for the users, but we need a
solution now."

Last week, using both uniformed and undercover members, Victoria Police
launched Operation Iglu and have so far arrested 15 people on drugs charges.

"Although there are people travelling to Kensington to buy drugs, a lot of
youth from the area seem to be involved," says Superintendent Tony Warren,
of the Melbourne police division.

Despite the crackdown, dealers are still using Kensington Railway Station
to supply customers on passing trains with heroin.

And experts warn that Kensington's problems will inevitably spread to other
neighboring suburbs.