STATES DEFY PM ON HEROIN PLANS

Victoria, NSW and the ACT are set to defy the Prime Minister, Mr John
Howard, and proceed next year with controversial trials of up to seven
heroin injecting rooms.

Senior members of all three governments said yesterday they remained
strongly committed to legal injecting rooms in a bid to save the lives of
drug addicts - despite a plea by Mr Howard to put their plans on hold. Mr
Howard's intervention on Tuesday, when he released a letter from an
international drug agency criticising the planned NSW injecting room, also
provoked federal criticism.

The Opposition Leader, Mr Kim Beazley, accused the Prime Minister of
looking backwards and the leader of the Australian Democrats, Senator Meg
Lees, said Mr Howard's position was dangerously short-sighted and
disappointing.

Labor said it would not support the Government if it tried to legislate
against the states' injecting rooms. Five Democrat senators contacted
yesterday expressed the same view.

But the Victorian Health Minister, Mr John Thwaites, said he did not
believe the Federal Government would try to stop a trial that could save
lives. "We're not going to be dominated by a head-in-the-sand
traditionalist approach when so many people are dying," he said. "This is
just a trial we're talking about, but it's a trial that has to take place
if we're going to reduce the terrible death rate from heroin overdose."

The NSW Special Minister of State, Mr John Della Bosca, and the Victorian
Premier, Mr Steve Bracks, discussed the states' position at a meeting in
Melbourne yesterday and agreed to consult with the Commonwealth over the
legal ramifications of injecting rooms, but said there was no need "at this
stage" for a joint state response. The ACT Chief Minister, Mrs Kate
Carnell, said she would be happy to discuss the issue with the Federal
Government.

Mr Della Bosca said: "This trial needs to proceed as an Australian response
to this problem ... not be dictated to by a foreign body." He accused Mr
Howard of being "selective" in raising the United Nations International
Narcotics Control Board's claim that the states' plans could put Australia
in breach of international obligations. The Government, he said, had
ignored other international conventions.

Mr Howard yesterday said he remained opposed to injecting facilities and
medically prescribed heroin trials. He said that Australia made its own
decisions. "What I'm saying ... is, can we talk about this? I'm not
threatening anything at this stage."