MEETING HELD TO SUPPORT GOVT TRIAL OF DRUG INJECTING ROOMS

People had to overcome their fear and denial of Melbourne's serious
heroin problem to save lives, a meeting to support a government trial
of supervised drug injecting facilities heard today.

About 50 people gathered at Footscray, in Melbourne's western suburbs,
to pay tribute to 26 people who died from heroin use in the area in
1999, by planting white crosses in a local park.

Footscray lies within Maribyrnong, one of five Melbourne
municipalities where the Victorian government is trying to set up
18-month trials of supervised heroin injection facilities in a bid to
lower the death toll from heroin abuse.

Another of the municipalities, Greater Dandenong, rejected a trial
last week but said it may reconsider the issue later.

Speakers from community group Open Family Australia told today's
Footscray meeting that much of the opposition to trials of injecting
rooms was 'hot air'.

"It's become, in a way, some sort of perverse circus," the head of
Open Family Australia, Nathan Stirling, said.

"We really would like to get a little bit more compassion and common
sense and rational discussion instead of the emotion that's driving
people out of fear."

Mr Stirling criticised the state opposition for not yet deciding on
whether to support the Bracks government's legislation enabling the
trials, accusing it of driving the community apart on the issue.

A representative from the Family Drug Support Program, Tony
Trimingham, said opponents to injecting facilities argued such
facilities condoned or encouraged drug use.

"This is the most despicable lie of all," he said.

Mr Trimingham said people in areas of high heroin abuse were already
living in a giant heroin injecting 'facility' but it was not clean or
safe.

"We, in our society, are living in denial about drugs," Mr Trimingham
said.

Footscray MP Bruce Mildenhall said no-one opposed more rehabilitation
programs for drug users or more resources for police to fight drug
dealers, but those were the 'easy part' of the state government's drug
policy.

"The hard part is to try new approaches (supervised injection rooms)
to save lives," Mr Mildenhall said.