SHOOTING GALLERY BOUND TO FAIL

If ever a project was doomed to failure from the start, it has to be
the introduction of the so-called safe injecting rooms in Kings Cross.

It has taken almost a year to find a group willing to operate the
trial rooms and then to lease premises, which will be subject to legal
challenge because of the anticipated undesirable elements they will
attract.

The injecting centre will only operate for a limited number of hours
daily and will refuse entry to the most vulnerable group, those under
16.

It is anticipated that 200 users will attend daily and that the centre
will be supervised seven days a week by two nurses. Allowing for days
off, annual and sick leave etc. this affords little security, in times
of emergency, for these nurses, who will work single-handed most of
the time.

What happens outside the hours of operation? What happens to other
drug users throughout the State? Where will other facilities be sited
if the trial period is declared a success, and who will operate them?

What checks will be made of the quality and purity of the drugs and
who will be held responsible if deaths do occur on these premises?

These are but a few of the questions to be asked. The answers may not
be known for years, but in the meantime politicians can use these
trials as an excuse for not taking more positive action to control the
trade in illicit drugs.