BREATHTAKING INCONSISTENCY

JOHN HARGREAVES, as the ACT ALP's spokesman on the issue, stated the
ALP was against a needle exchange program for ACT prisons as ''it
condoned the use of drugs". Such a policy highlights the breathtaking
inconsistency of the party which supports a supervised injecting room
and, presumably, a needle exchange program in the wider ACT community.
As the stated aim of both the needle exchange and the injecting room
program is to save lives in the non-prison community and not condone
the use of drugs it is difficult to see how a needle exchange program
in prisons cannot be viewed in the same light. Perhaps a prisoner's
life is worth less than the rest of us. As in the rest of the
community, the use of drugs in prison is a fact of life. Until we
discover some way of stopping the drug supply to prisoners and, I
might add, to all drug users, or come up with some program that will
minimise drug usage, the saving of life must be paramount. Perhaps Mr
Hargreaves' party might put its collective brainpower to solving the
problem. Or has he ''done a Della Bosca" and inadvertently told the
truth about ALP policy?

CLIVE BLENNERHASSETT
Dunlop