INJECTING ROOMS SAVE LIVES

Peter Maresch is wrong (Letters, June 19). Tightening drug law enforcement
does not improve drug-related crime - it wastes money on policing and makes
addicts more desperate.

But Mr Maresch is right. Those with the main "axe to grind" are parents of
the more than 700 young Australians who die of preventable drug overdose
each year.

Injecting rooms have saved lives overseas. The Swiss have found that they
make good economic sense and are humanitarian. Ten years of experience
overseas has not shown that they encourage drug use.

Dr Andrew Byrne, Redfern.