EDITORIAL: THE HIGH COST OF HEROIN

ONE cost of the heroin scourge is the toll in deaths, ruined lives and
broken families.

But the Herald Sun today exposes the other cost -- the massive
financial drain on all Victorians. Every year the impost on the state
is more than $500 million -- about $300 for each household.

Almost two-thirds of the cast is made up of theft, imprisonment and
law enforcement related to drug addicts who steal to supply their
habit and traffickers who provide the drug. On top of these are court
costs and legal aid.

Predictably, those advocating the trial of heroin injecting rooms cite
these costs as support for their cause.

But this financial burden is also an argument for doing very much more
than at present to prevent people making the potentially fatal
decision to use heroin.

And if they do, the state has an obligation to all the non-users to
require the addicts to have treatment to wean them off the drug.

The priority is to save lives. But Victorians should not be required
at great financial cost to support the habits of those who will not
help themselves.