SPREAD OF HEROIN MEANS WE ALL FACE THE CHALLENGE

IS it really the case, as the ACT's Chief Justice, Jeffrey Miles, seems to
think, that heroin use is so widespread that the community hardly regards
possession of the drug as being ''criminal'' any more?

Perhaps the Chief Justice is right that the community's focus has swung
away from criminality. But one can only hope that the shift, if there has
been one, is not due to a sense of hopelessness, or complacency, but to an
understanding that heroin use is a complex health issue, not simply a
law-and-order issue.

Even if that is the case, a shift in attitude does not necessarily indicate
a greater acceptance of heroin use on the part of the community, or a
greater complacency about the extent of drug problem.

It could merely indicate a greater preparedness on the part of many people
to seek alternative ways of comprehending and confronting the scourge of drugs.

The Chief Justice is better equipped to understand the realities of heroin
use than many in the community. He sees the consequences of the drug's
illegality every day, as people come before him for trial or sentence on
charges ranging from possession to supply.

Whether the Chief Justice's characterisation of heroin use as
''widespread'' is reasonable depends on one's understanding of the word. A
1998 survey concluded that almost 2 per cent of 1200 ACT residents surveyed
(all aged over 14) had used heroin at least once. That's two in every
hundred people.

In the 14-to-24 age group, 1.2 per cent of those surveyed had used heroin
in the preceding 12 months. That's a few kids in every school, a couple of
university students in any given lecture hall, a smattering of the
acquaintances of every single Canberran reading this newspaper. Few people
are any longer so isolated that they still see the problem as one which
could never possibly concern them.

Whether that statistic of 2 per cent seems reassuring or shocking again
depends on perceptions. If Chief Justice Miles is right, and many in the
community no longer regard possession of heroin as a particularly heinous
crime, it could be because more and more people have had their lives
altered in some fashion by an encounter with the drug.

If two out of every hundred Canberrans has tried heroin at least once,
chances are that for each of those individuals several other people have
been affected.

That's a lot of people forced to confront their preconceptions about heroin
use, a lot of people forced to acknowledge that not every heroin user is an
addict, or a thief, or unemployed, or unemployable, or a hopeless criminal,
or a worthless human being.