SITE CHOSEN FOR INJECTING ROOM IN CITY

Canberra's heroin injecting room will be in the old QE II maternity
hospital in Civic, and will be run by the ACT's needle-exchange operators.

Health Minister Michael Moore welcomed and accepted last night the
recommendations of the 17-member committee set up to make key
decisions about the supervised injecting place.

Refurbishment of the site, which is away from the bulk of Civic's
shops and restaurants, will begin as soon as possible.

Assisting Drug Dependants Inc, which runs the needle-exchange and drug
counselling service in East Row, has been chosen as operator.

As part of the decision its East Row service will be closed and moved
to QE II.

Mr Moore said the decision was a positive one for drug users as well
as city traders.

"One of the things we are trying to achieve is to move the drug scene
away from the city's heart.'' With the injecting place, and ADDInc's
established drug services moving west of the city, that could well be
achieved."

The committee's decision had been unanimous, and that meant the best
site and providers had been chosen, he said.

President of Family and Friends for Drug Law Reform Brian McConnell
said he was aware that there had been some "angst" among city traders
about more central locations such as the Griffin Centre on Bunda Street.

He said the chosen location was probably not ideal, because it was a
little remote from the central drug-dealing area in Garema Place, and
there was some concern about how far people would walk to use the
injecting place. However, there had been big problems selecting sites
in Victoria and NSW because businesses had not agreed. Getting a
consensus meant that the facility would be built sooner.

President of the City Heart Business Association Emmanuel Notaras said
traders had originally wanted the injecting place to be at Canberra
Hospital in Woden, but had been convinced that was too far from the
city.

They were happy with the site because it did not "clash" with
commercial interests and offered resonable access to users.

City traders did not think the location would provoke a "caravan of
users" to move down to the west side of the city.

Committee member and ADDInc executive director Maureen Cain said the
East Row service had been looking for larger premises anyway, and the
QE II site had several advantages, including being owned by
government. Housing its existing services with the new injecting place
was a practical decision.

Opposition Leader Jon Stanhope said he welcomed the committee
decisions, and that the location was a sensible compromise.

Mr Moore said the Uniting Church and ACT Community Care would provide
back-up support for ADDInc.

The next step was to look for a group to perform the clinical trial,
and begin refurbishments, with operations scheduled to start in August.