DRUGS POLICY FEARS

LAWYERS want the Federal Government to adopt a Netherlands-style drugs
policy including safe injecting sites.

The Law Council of Australia says the national approach to drug abuse is a
"tragic and expensive failure".

It says lawyers are contented daily with drug-related death and crime.

The council, representing about 38,000 lawyers, also wants cannabis use
decriminalised.

It wants laws changed in all states allowing judges to suspend or defer
sentences for drug addicted offenders.

The council says injecting sites should be established in areas where there
is "chaotic intravenous drug use".

The ACT's trial of medically prescribed heroin should be re-established
"with a view to adopting harm minimisation policies similar to those
adopted in Switzerland and the Netherlands".

Law Council president Gordon Hughes said the council did not support
illicit drug use.

But it believed Australia should try other methods "given that current
prohibition policies are not working".