HEROIN TRIALS SINFUL: NILE

THE Reverend Fred Nile, who by his own admission has never tried drugs and
sipped beer once ("I tried it as a boy, didn't like it"), has no doubt
heroin use can be stamped out.

"You know how I know that? Because I'm in touch with the beating heart of
Australia," he says over a flat white in a Northbridge cafe, metres from a
well-known drop-off spot for heroin dealers.

But he's convinced heroin injecting rooms and free heroin trials are not
the way to go.

In Perth to launch the Christian Democratic Party's election campaign for
the next State election, Mr Nile lashed out at Australian Anglican Church
Archbishop Peter Carnley, who has declared his support for safe injecting
rooms and a heroin trial in WA.

"Christians cannot condone or assist in the injecting of heroin into the
addicts' veins, because injecting heroin is a sinful act," Mr Nile said.

Dr Carnley's views sit with the argument that if the heroin doses and
quality in such rooms were controlled, the risk to users would be reduced
and addicts could be encouraged to seek help to kick their habits.

"He admits he doesn't have the solutions. I think Archbishop Carnley should
go to Sweden like I did and look at their programs," Mr Nile said.

Mr Nile - who supports programs using the opiate-blocking drug naltrexone -
said harm minimisation programs sent the wrong message to young people.

But rehabilitation centre Cyrenian House executive director Arthur Toon
said there iieeded to be a more flexible approach.

"We have real issues in the here and now with drugs that need practical
solutions. The idea of abstinence as our first response now is a bit
simplistic," he said.