$150M OPIATES TRADE AT RISK

The international drugs body at the centre of the row over proposed
heroin injecting rooms yesterday confirmed that Australia's
$150million-a-year legal opiates trade could be put at risk should the
trials proceed.

A spokesman for the Vienna-based United Nations agency said Australia
could ultimately face an international embargo of its opiate exports.

But it would be the first embargo against a signatory to the 1961
convention on narcotic drugs and according to the spokesman the agency
would be "extremely reluctant" to recommend such a penalty. In the 30
years since the convention was ratified (in 1968), the International
Narcotics Control Board has only threatened action against countries
five times. But sanctions were avoided after each country backed down.

"Ultimately the issue was solved because the pressure was such that
the country did not want to be named at the (UN's) Economic and Social
Council of being in breach of the treaty," the secretary to the board,
Mr Herbert Schaepe, told The Age. Germany could also face censure if
the Schroder Government proceeds with plans to legalise injecting
rooms. But the stakes are not as high because Germany does not export
opiates.

Asked whether the board, for this reason, held a bigger stick in its
dealings with Australia, Mr Schaepe replied: "If you want to see it
like this, yes."

The Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, has appealed to Victoria, New
South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory to put proposed
injecting room trials on hold because of the UN agency's advice.

But his plea, and the board's critique of the trials, have been
attacked by Australia's leading drug expert, Dr David Penington, who
claimed on Thursday that there was no international basis for blocking
the trials. "My view is that it is nothing to do with them," Dr
Penington said.

The states have indicated that they may proceed with the trials
without Federal Government backing. In such circumstances, said Mr
Schaepe, Canberra would be obliged to take action to ensure the
convention was observed. Two other countries - Spain and Luxembourg -
are believed to be considering injecting room trials, while in
Switzerland and the Netherlands some rooms are operating with the
blessing of local authorities but without strict government approval.

Denmark is understood to have shelved its plans for so-called
"shooting galleries" after consulting the UN board in March.

Mr Schaepe said the UN board was particularly anxious about the
"proliferation" of injecting room trials as distinct from trials
involving the supply of heroin to addicts that have been running in
Switzerland and Holland since 1997.

The latter escape censure because they are being conducted under
medical supervision, although the board remains "extremely sceptical"
about the value of these trials in the international fight against
drug abuse.

It also blames the trials for a rash of other heroin experiments that
Mr Schaepe said were spreading "like a virus". "These things
immediately find a lot of imitators, whether the thing makes sense or
not."

According to Mr Schaepe, the board's chief objection to injecting
rooms is that they amount to the sanctioning of illicit drug use. But
the board, which is made up of 13 medical and pharmacological experts
from around the globe, also fears a continuing creep towards the
legalisation of heroin.

"The next step may well be, under the argument of harm reduction, that
you say: `Well, it's too risky for these drug addicts to get the drugs
from illicit markets. They should get the drugs in the injecting
rooms. They should get methamphetamine, they should get ecstasy, they
should get cocaine, they should get heroin and so forth'."