TOWN LOSES DRUG TRIAL FIGHT

PLANNING Minister Graham Kierath has overruled a local council and will
allow a rehabilitation centre for heroin addicts to be set up in Northam.

Mr Kierath gave the green light to George O'Neil's naltrexone
rehabilitation hostel yesterday despite overwhelming community opposition
to the proposal.

Local residents feared increased crime and social problems in the town. In
his decision, Mr Kierath said the centre was in line with planning rules
but because of the community's fears he would only allow it on a temporary
trial basis.

The hostel will be set up in the nurses quarters"of the old Northam
hospital, which is in the centre of town and 200m away from a school.

Dr O'Neil's company, Australian Medical Procedures Research Foundation,
bought the unused building for $350,000 in March.

In August, the Northam Town Council rejected Dr O'Neil's plans for the
hospital site after 1283 residents opposed it and only 135 people supported
it. Local action group spokesman Peter Morton said Mr Kierath's decision
was an outrage and completely ignored the community's concerns.

He said elderly residents who lived nearby were afraid and it was believed
many more than 18 addicts would be housed there.

Mr Morton said an alternative site, 15km out of Northam, had been proposed
by the community but appeared to have been ignored.

AMPRF administrator Bruce Houston, who had received Mr Kierath's letter
approving the centre, said yesterday that the hostel could be operating by
March.

He said 18 residents and 18 carers would be housed there in the short-term.
More residents could be taken in to the main hospital building within the
three-year trial period.

Mr Houston said those who wanted to attend the hostel had to take their
naltrexone tablets and would sign contracts promising not to leave the
grounds without permission and a carer.

He said the hostel was designed for addicts who did not have the support of
family and friends to keep off heroin and was ultimately designed to save
lives. Mr Houston said donations and the addicts"unemployment benefits
would pay for operations.

Under the conditions attached to Mr Kierath's approval, the Northam Town
Council can apply after three years to have the hostel closed.

A committee of community members must also be set up to monitor the
hostels"operations and its impact on local amenities and a management plan
must be given to the Northam Town Council.

Despite Mr Houston's comments, the main hospital building cannot be used to
house addicts.If more addicts require housing than those filling the
nursing quarters, an extra application will have to be made to the Planning
Minister for permission to allow them into the main hospital building.