DRUGS DIVIDE ANGLICANS

Powerful factions within the Anglican Church were at loggerheads again
yesterday after the church's national leader, Archbishop Peter Carnley,
endorsed free heroin and supervised injecting rooms for addicts.

Dr Carnley weighed into the drugs debate, calling for short-term heroin
prescriptions, the establishment of supervised injecting rooms and
professional counselling as "the next step in saving lives".

But the head of Australia's largest and most conservative diocese, Sydney
Archbishop Harry Goodhew, quickly rejected the proposal, saying it would
give the wrong signal to young people.

"I think it sends a poor message and it is not a valuable strategy in the
long-term," Archbishop Goodhew said.

Dr Carnley's comments came after Federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley last
week backed free heroin and supervised injecting rooms for addicts.

Prime Minister John Howard has rejected both proposals and West Australian
Premier Richard Court yesterday criticised Dr Carnley, the Perth
Archbishop, for his contribution to the drug debate.

"The church should be concentrating on providing support to those people
who are sadly addicted to heroin and and not providing more drugs," Mr
Court said.

The latest row comes just two months after Dr Carnley was elected Primate
of the Anglican Church of Australia, amid a flurry of protest from the
Sydney diocese and evangelical ministers over his liberal views on the
resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Archbishop Goodhew said yesterday although the majority of Sydney's
Anglican ministers would dispute Dr Carnley's views on heroin, it was not
indicative of a personal antagonism towards the new Primate.

He said like most Anglicans involved in the drug problem, Dr Carnley was
motivated by compassion for addicts, and there was a wide range of views on
how the church should tackle the issue.

But the head of the Melbourne dioceses' social responsibility committee,
Reverend Ray Cleary, backed Dr Carnley's proposal, saying if supervised
injecting rooms saved just one life then it was worth the effort.

Reverend Cleary said it was inappropriate for churches and other
non-government agencies to open injecting facilities, which should instead
operate out of health centres. He said the Melbourne diocese "would also
support what the primate is saying" about a carefully, medically supervised
heroin trial, where heroin was distributed under prescription for long-term
addicts.

Dr Carnley said governments already supplied needles to minimise harm and
it was impossible to determine whether short-term heroin prescriptions and
injecting rooms would save lives unless a trial was set up. "It does not
mean that you are condoning drugs any more than providing needles does," Dr
Carnley said.

Under his proposal, addicts would receive free heroin for a short period
and then be encouraged to switch to substitute programs such as Naltrexone.

The Australian Medical Association immediately welcomed Dr Carnley's comments.

AMA federal president Kerryn Phelps described them as "very refreshing".