HEROIN: THE WAY AHEAD

IT IS disappointing that the Liberal Party has decided to oppose the
State Government's proposed trial of supervised injecting rooms for
heroin users in Victoria. The Age has long argued the merits of this
proposal, but only as part of a package of programs designed to cut
back on heroin abuse, save lives and provide help for addicts and
other victims of this appalling problem.

In a political and administrative sense, the Liberals' opposition
means the injecting room program has been aborted. This is because the
government needs a legislative mandate for the trial, and the enabling
bill will now be blocked in the Legislative Council, where the
opposition commands a large majority, and could even have problems in
the lower house. However, the government must not throw up its arms on
this issue. Too many lives are at stake. There are at least three
other areas - diversionary programs, treatment centres and education -
that should now receive more attention.

Diversionary programs involve a first offender who has committed a
crime for heroin-related reasons - breaking and entering, for example
- - and receives a warning or suspended sentence on condition that he or
she submits to a treatment program designed to stop the addiction.
However, if the offender reoffends during this period, the sentence
must be served in full. It is a carrot-and-stick formula applied to
heroin abuse and other drug-related problems. In New York state, which
has employed a diversionary policy for some time and has enjoyed a
remarkable reduction in general crime levels, this specific program
has reportedly had a significant impact.

In April, the Bracks Government announced that a pilot diversionary
program, introduced in 1998 by the former Kennett government in
Melbourne's northern and north-western suburbs, would go statewide.
Other states and the Commonwealth are also considering the Victorian
trial as a model for a national approach. Full implementation of a
statewide diversionary program for heroin abusers obviously means the
government must allocate more funds for treatment centres. Otherwise
the program, and its laudable intention of alleviating the problem,
will be undermined.

Diversionary programs and treatment centres must also be complemented
by strong anti-drug education courses. Overseas experience again
suggests that providing children with full information on the harmful
effects of drug addiction, and a minimum of moralising, is the most
effective approach.