UNI READY TO START LEGAL HEROIN TRIALS

The University of NSW is poised to take control of the controversial
trial of Australia's first legal heroin injecting room from the
pioneering Sisters of Charity, whom the Vatican forced to abandon the
project.

In an unprecedented move on Monday night, the university's 21-member
council unanimously resolved to support the project and lend its
considerable academic weight, medical expertise and research resources
to the State Government-sponsored experiment.

The meeting, chaired by the deputy chancellor and Federal Court judge,
Justice Jane Mathews, resolved to inform the Special Minister of
State, Mr John Della Bosca, immediately of its decision and urgently
convene a working group to "facilitate the operation of this trial and
clarify its conditions."

"The Council of the University of NSW resolves that the university
indicate to the NSW Government and the minister, the Honourable John
Della Bosca, its support for the 18-month trial of a medically
supervised injecting service, and offer its own services so that this
harm-minimisation program, affecting the welfare of the vulnerable
people of NSW and Australia, can proceed with the full confidence of
the Government and the community," the resolution said.

The offer, already communicated informally to Mr Della Bosca's office,
would be a politically significant symbol of support for the
Government's trial of the heroin injecting room after the nuns' forced
withdrawal. It would also give the contentious project renewed ethical
legitimacy from its direct association with one of the nation's most
elite universities.

Supporters and signatories of the resolution unveil a who's who of
Sydney's medical and academic fraternity, including

Professor Peter Baume and Dr Catherine Bergland of the School of
Community Medicine; Ian Webster, Professor of Public Health at
Liverpool Hospital; the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre's
Professor Wayne Hall and Dr Kate Dolan; Richard Day, Professor of
Clinical Pharmacology at St Vincent's Hospital; Professor Ron Penny,
Professor of Medicine at St Vincent's Hospital; and Associate
Professor David Dixon from the Faculty of Law.

The council has 21 members: the chancellor, Dr John Yu;
vice-chancellor, Professor John Niland; two parliamentary
representatives, the Labor MP Mrs Deirdre Grusovin and Greens MLC Ms
Lee Rhiannon; a former Federal Labor minister, Ms Susan Ryan; a former
director of the Affirmative Action Agency, Ms Catherine Harris; the
principal of St Catherine's School, Waverley, Ms Jo Karaolis;
financier Mr James Anderson; and 11 elected by university staff,
students and graduates.The Sisters of Charity last week said they
would reluctantly abandon involvement in the trial in obedience to an
order from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
This sent shockwaves through Catholic communities, widening the split
between conservatives and progressives.

Melbourne's conservative Archbishop, the Most Rev George Pell, is the
only Australian member of the congregation, sparking suggestions that
the Vatican intervention was also a pre-emptive strike against
Victoria's new Premier, Mr Steve Bracks, a Catholic who has pledged to
allow five injecting rooms in a similar trial.