CHURCH GROUPS IN HEROIN ATTACK

A new coalition of conservative church and family groups yesterday accused
the State Government and Australia's leading drug expert, Dr David
Penington, of hijacking the heroin debate, and said there was no evidence
that supervised injecting rooms would save lives.

Former pop star Mr Normie Rowe, whose daughter is a recovering heroin
addict, launched the Community Coalition for a Drug-Free Society, and with
it a scathing attack on the Government's "harm minimisation" agenda.

He said Victoria was the drug capital of Australia and the Government was
"not doing a damn thing about it".

Dr Penington - who heads the Drug Policy Expert Committee charged with
reporting to the Bracks government on trials of five safe-injecting
facilities around Melbourne - had skewed the debate in favour of liberal
drug policies, Mr Rowe said, and if the Government continued along that
path, having a hit of heroin would be "as common as having a Diet Coke or a
stubby down at the local pub".

"What they have foisted on the Government is just a joke," he said.

Mr Rowe launched a personal crusade in New South Wales when his teenage
daughter became entangled with heroin, and said he was frustrated that
police were not adequately empowered to prosecute dealers.

The chairman of the new coalition, Mr Peter Stokes, said there was no "safe
way" to administer illicit drugs and Dr Penington's committee had not made
it clear how the injecting rooms would work.

"We are deeply concerned that those promoting a softer policy on drugs in
Victoria are getting all the attention ... Promoting safe drug use rather
than abstinence has sent the wrong message to the community, especially
young people," Mr Stokes said.

Dr Penington has said that supervised injecting facilities, which could be
operating in Melbourne as early as July, would not be in residential areas
or near schools or kindergartens, and there was no evidence of the so-called
"honey-pot effect".

Instead, they would bring heroin addicts off the street and into a safe,
medically supervised environment in the interests of users and the
community.

Dr Penington yesterday said 40 years of relying on law enforcement and moral
education to deal with illicit drug abuse had not worked, and it was
"totally unrealistic" to think that it would in the future.

"The problem has romped ahead progressively in that time. I have no argument
with the attitude that young people should be discouraged from embarking on
illicit drug use, but there is a point at which physical dependency
overtakes rational decision making," he said.