INJECTING ROOMS DEFENDED

SYDNEY -- The drug-injecting room proposed for Sydney may not have saved the
lives of the four addicts who died after injecting a batch of high-grade
heroin at the weekend, the Reverend Harry Herbert said yesterday.

The Rev. Herbert, executive director of the Uniting Church board with
responsibility for running the room, said the room would merely give addicts
a better chance of surviving unexpected overdoses.

"There is no such thing as safe injecting. However, injecting in a
supervised environment is comparatively safer that doing it alone or on the
streets or down a back alley or wherever," the Rev. Herbert said.

The Uniting Church was awaiting word from Police Commissioner Peter Ryan and
NSW Health director general Mick Reid on its licence application to set up
the state's first legal heroin-injecting centre.

If approved the centre will be established at 66 Darlinghurst Road, Kings
Cross, in a former pinball parlor.

"We will not be checking the grade of drugs they bring in, but the chances
of survival are much better because the drug Narcan can be administered
quickly by staff," the Rev. Herbert said.

Graeme Field, from the NSW Ambulance Service, said Narcan was injected into
the vein of someone overdosing to reverse the effect of the drug.

"If people are going to inject it is much better to do so with someone there
who is not going to so -- so they can call an ambulance," Mr Field said.

"It just makes good sense, if you go bushwalking, you tell someone where
you're going."

Mr Herbert said there was no guarantee that even if someone injected in a
medically supervised environment they might not overdose, even die.

"Medically supervised injecting means you're best able to address it quickly
as, I'm told, overdosing people pass out with the needle still stuck in
them," Mr Herbert said.

"There is no duty of care, we're providing a place for people - we don't
want to advertise or to pretend that somehow we're giving guarantees of no
overdoses - that's why we don't call it a safe-injecting room. Injecting
will never be safe."

Mr Herbert said both the police commissioner and NSW Health director general
were given the Uniting Church's licence application five weeks ago and he
was hoping to hear this week if it was an approved.