STRIKE FORCE TO FIGHT CAFE DRUGS

Police have blamed antiquated laws for their failure to prosecute
Kings Cross cafes that openly sell cannabis. They were responding to
reports yesterday that five Kings Cross cafes were openly dealing in
drugs or allowing drug trade on their premises.

City East Region Commander Dick Adams said a strike force had been
established to solely investigate the premises' named in the media. He
said police had made 1,072 mid-level drug arrests in the past year. In
Kings Cross alone, 230 people had been charged for possession and 77
for dealing in drugs in the past six months.

Mr Adams said the strike force had been established to maintain public
confidence in police action on drugs.

"Not only does justice need to be done, it needs to be seen to be
done," he said.

But while police could prosecute individuals, they had "no power" to
close down premises where they suspect drug dealing occurred, Mr Adams
said.

"More premises than those five" named had been regularly searched by
police for more than a year, he said.

Police are seeking to have offending cafes declared "disorderly
houses" under a piece of legislation which Mr Adams described as
"coming out of the 1940s".

Police have applied to the Crown solicitor and are gathering evidence
to mount a case in the NSW Supreme Court. "What constitutes evidence
in the media does not constitute it in a court of law," he said.