ALP, INGRAM SHARE COMMON GROUND ON DRUGS

NINE days after the release of the Penington report, the bid by the
Bracks Government to establish supervised injecting rooms for heroin
users is in serious jeopardy.

To get the facilities up, Labor requires the support of two of the
three independent MPs in the Legislative Assembly. It then needs to
get the appropriate legislation through the upper house, where Liberal
Party and National Party MPs have the numbers.

If Labor succeeds in getting the legislation through the parliament,
local councils would then have to agree to set up facilities in their
municipalities.

The Premier, Steve Bracks, recognised this was always going to be an
onerous task. It is why the government has proposed five months of
public consultation before a vote is scheduled in the spring session
of parliament.

One week in, the signs are bad for Mr Bracks.

Independent Russell Savage has announced he will vote against the
legislation. Fellow independent Craig Ingram has signalled he will
follow suit. The National Party's leader, Peter Ryan, facing a
critical test in the May 13 Benalla byelection, says he has very grave
concerns. Ditto Liberal leader Denis Napthine, although both men
assert their position doesn't necessarily mean their parties will vote
down the proposed bill.

Mr Savage, a social conservative and former policeman, says he has
read the Penington report and sees no compelling reason to support the
facilities. Fair enough. Having made himself aware of the facts, he is
entitled to his opinion.

At least he has read the document. By Wednesday, the best Mr Ryan
could manage was the report's overview, while Mr Ingram has yet to
read the entire report.

Those supporting an injecting room in the Smith Street area of
Collingwood would have a right to feel ripped off if the proposal is
torpedoed by two country independents whose electorates are hundreds
of kilometres away. This would be particularly so if locals back the
proposal.

But one question Mr Ingram needs to answer before he kills the plan is
whether he and Labor are really as far apart as has been portrayed.

Mr Ingram says his "gut feeling" is that the facilities are not the
best way to go; that he is nervous about their establishment.

"I recognise the current death rate from heroin overdoses is
unacceptable," he told The Age this week.

"But I don't think they (the government) are doing enough in
rehabilitation and detox facilities. The fact is there is a waiting
list to get into them. There's also a lack of police numbers, when
there's a need to tackle dealing issues."

In essence, Mr Ingram wants the government to funnel more resources
into treatment, prevention, education, and law enforcement before
proceeding with the more radical step of the facilities. He is not
alone in this assessment.

That said, Mr Ingram's desires are not that far from the government's
actual approach. While the controversy about the facilities has
dominated the public debate, Labor is committing a significant level
of extra funds to fight the drugs scourge.

In next Tuesday's state budget, an extra $55 million will be allocated
over three years to fight the drug problem. From July 1 this year,
$17million of these funds will be available. A further $3 million in
capital funding will be allocated to build a new rehabilitation facility.

At the same time, $20 million from the Turning the Tide program will
be available, $35 million will be spent on Department of Human
Services programs, and $17.5 million on drug prevention and
counselling in schools. A total of $92.5 million from July. This does
not include the millions of dollars that will be spent on employing
extra police.

Much of this money starts kicking in from July, perhaps six months
before the first injecting facility is in operation. The first site
may not even be ready until early next year.

The fact is Labor is acting on the plea of Mr Ingram and others to put
in more resources. But while Mr Ingram appears to want Labor to delay
the facilities pending the results of the extra funding, the Health
Minister, John Thwaites, insists there cannot be any further delays
given the death rates. The strategy must be simultaneous, not staggered.

Dr Penington and Mr Thwaites emphasise that injecting rooms are not a
cure-all, that they are part of a multi-pronged strategy to fight the
heroin problem. Put simply, injecting rooms do have the potential to
reduce the heroin death rate. While the overseas evidence is
sufficiently inconclusive to be distorted by advocates and opponents,
addicts who overdose in rooms are more likely to be revived by aid
workers than if they shoot up alone in a laneway.

If local councils engage in legitimate debate over the coming months,
and subsequently receive the reluctant but genuine approval of their
communities to set up the facilities, should Craig Ingram,
representing the faraway voters of Gippsland East, have the right to
stand in their way?