POLICE 'OPEN' ON HEROIN TRIAL IDEA

THE WA Police Service is willing to rethink its opposition to a trial of the
medical prescription of heroin to long-term addicts.

Det-Supt Murray Lampard, of crime operations, said yesterday that though
police opposed heroin trials and so-called safe injecting rooms, they did
not have a closed mind on the matter.

"From the information before us at the moment . . . we are not supporting
the prescribing of heroin to addicts or the locating of safe injecting
rooms," he said.

"However, this is such an enormous issue for not only WA but Australia we
need to be flexible enough to look at new initiatives that come up that are
going to help . . . reduce the number of people that are dying from heroin
addiction."

Asked if he meant heroin trials, he said: "The police service is certainly
flexible enough to be able to look at all new information and be able to
look at all initiatives."

Supt Lampard, speaking after Archbishop Peter Carnley, the head of the
Anglican Church in Australia, declared his support for safe injecting rooms
and a heroin trial in WA, stressed that any rethink would not necessarily
result in a change in police policy.

Dr Carnley said it was impossible to know if either program worked unless
they were tested.

But Premier Richard Court yesterday reiterated his point-blank opposition to
both proposals.

He was joined by the Catholic Church and Leederville doctor Pat Cranley, who
has treated more than 4500 heroin addicts in 27 years.

The Liberal Party is the only major political force against a medically
supervised heroin trial, which has in-principle support from the National
Party, Labor, the Australian Democrats and the Greens (WA).

The Australian Medical Association at its national conference in May
endorsed a trial.

However, support for safe injecting rooms is mixed.

AMA WA president Rosanna Capolingua-Host said yesterday that injecting rooms
did not address the root causes of addiction and could attract criminals.

And Supt Lampard said WA did not have the same problems with overt public
injection of heroin that existed in NSW and justified that State's
introduction of injecting rooms.

Mr Court said he was concerned about Dr Carnley's proposals as there was no
such thing as a safe place to inject heroin.

"Providing free heroin to a heroin addict does not address their situation
and the Church should be concentrating on providing the support that's
needed when a person does have a drug abuse problem," he said.

"They should then be providing the support, not more drugs, to help that
situation."

Father Paul Baczynski, who works in the Catholic Church's crossroads drug
treatment program, said injecting rooms and a heroin trial sent the wrong
message that society had given up fighting drug use.

It was more important to address the emotional problems that caused drug
addiction.

It was wrongly reported yesterday that the Trinity Unity Church in Perth had
offered to provide a safe injecting room. Trinity, which has a long record
of helping young drug users stay alive, hopes the matter will be the subject
of wide debate before any decision is taken.