RESPONSE TEAMS NEED RESOURCES

If A.C.T. HEALTH Minister Michael Moore is sincere in his statement that
''Heroin users who could have been saved by Canberra's supervised injecting
room would die" (CT, July 5, p.1) then he must apply the related resources
of his department towards appropriate medical response teams, both now and
in the future. This action would save as many lives as the proposed
injecting room would have, and it would have the support of a wide
cross-section of the community. By ditching the drug injection room
concept, we avoid a form of community tolerance of drug abuse that
undermines the genuine drug avoidance and rehabilitation programs. In
addition, we are not deterring addicts from seeking bona fide
rehabilitation, by offering ''smoke and mirrors". We have avoided our
responsibilities through family, school and community on the matter of drug
abuse (both soft and hard) for so long now, that tragedies are inevitable.
Thank you, Michael Osborne and Dave Rugendyke, for making us face the
reality of drug abuse and rehabilitation.

J.L. Smith

Farrer