GUIDE FOR RETAILERS IN DRUG TRADE AREA

Melbourne City Council yesterday launched a how-to guide for city
retailers who are affected by the drug trade in central Melbourne.

Endorsed by Victoria Police and the Australian Retailers Association
the publication, Business Responding to Illegal Drugs Handbook, sets
out practical methods for retailers to keep drug-related incidents to
a minimum.

Speaking at the launch Lord Mayor Cr Peter Costigan said it was
unrealistic to expect that drug use in the city could be eliminated.
He said to help manage the problems associated with the heroin trade
the council had earmarked $2 million in it's budget for safety programs.

Police Commissioner Neil Comrie said that Victoria Police performed
two-thirds of all the drug-related arrests last year, despite not
having that share of Australia's drug trade.

"I reject the inference that the police are ineffective in tackling
the drug problem," he said.

Mr Comrie said that negative images of Melbourne frightened people
away from the city. "It is so tiresome to be constantly barraged by
negative images of Melbourne."

Tim Piper from the Australian Retailers Association stressed that
apart from the area of Bourke and Russell Streets the city was largely
unaffected by drugs and played down the number of stores leaving that
area.

"The drug issue hasn't caused them to move out, they have business
problems as well," he said.

The guide offers advice on shopfittings, toilets, lighting,
surveillance and staffing arrangements, but to the retailers at the
coal face in Bourke and Russell Streets, the council's initiative is
too little too late.

Three stores in this area have said they are leaving due to the drug
problem and a fourth told The Age yesterday that it had also fallen
victim to the drug dealing and taking outside it's store.

Stupendo menswear joins neighbor Darrel Lea, and pop culture stores
Minotaur and Comics R Us, in leaving its Bourke Street location of
five years. Its store in Melbourne Central will continue to trade.

Stupendo's owner, who declined to be named, said he had tried many
methods to contain theft in his store but his greatest concern was the
safety of his staff.

"I can't expect my female staff to throw people out of the change
rooms when they have fallen asleep and come-to all aggressive and
difficult," he said.

With only a month to go after 10 years trading in Bourke Street,
Minotaur's owner Colin Paraskevas said the council's guidebook was
patronising to successful businesses who were going to great expense
to relocate.

"The council has no place telling me how to do my business," he said.
He said safety awards and accolades were irrelevant because people
involved in drug use were little danger to anyone but their own kind.

"It is the seediness, the unpleasantness, not the risk of getting
mugged or abused. It is too simple to say it is a safety issue," he
said.