ADDICTS GET LEGAL ROOM TO SHOOT-UP

THE nation's first legal heroin-injecting room will open in NSW, the
Carr Government revealed yesterday, in the wake of overwhelming
pressure for drug-law reform.

Heroin addicts were expected to visit the injecting room 50,000 times
a year once it was established by the Sisters of Charity in Kings Cross.

The injecting room was rejected by the Salvation Army yesterday as
counter-productive, but praised by drug experts and the NSW AIDS
Council as an attempt to save lives.

Prime Minister John Howard warned that the room sent the wrong signal
to the community about illegal drugs, but said it was an issue for
State governments.

But the ACT Government revealed yesterday it would also establish a
heroin-injecting room and was still committed to a heroin trial.

Premier Bob Carr said the NSW injecting room would move addicts from
gutters and laneways to a room where they could be medically supervised.

"The point about this is to get heroin use off the streets, out of the
laneways to prevent the continuing degradation of the environment of
Kings Cross and to get people into an environment where treatment in
possible," Mr Carr said.

"On the way through we might save a few lives and enable people to be
part of our society again," he said.

The room was among measures announced by the Carr Labor Government
yesterday in response to the week-long Drugs Summit earlier this year.

Mr Carr also announced that a caution rather than a penalty system for
those caught with small amounts of heroin, cocaine, cannabis, ecstasy,
amphetamines and LSD.

The cannabis caution would be State-wide but limited to the Illawarra
and far north coast regions for all other drugs.

Both measures would be trialled over 12 months and were modelled on
larger systems in Victoria. All those cautioned would be encouraged
into treatment or detox.

Cannabis would not be decriminalised, with Mr Carr saying further
evidence was needed on issues such as a link between the drug and
mental illness.

Vic Smith, the Mayor of South Sydney, which takes in Kings Cross, said
he suppported setting up the room, but more should also be established
in other suburbs known for drug problems.

"All we (the council) are doing is accepting our responsibility. I'm
calling on other councils like Fairfield (which takes in Cabramatta)
not to abrogate theirs," Mr Smith said.

Drug-reform campaigners Reverend Ray Richmond and Tony Triningham also
welcomed the decision, but agreed one was not enough.

Both campaigners sparked national controversy earlier this year when
they established an illegal injecting room at the Wayside Chapel in
Kings Cross following frustration at the number of overdoses.

The Sisters of Charity, whio run St Vincent's Hospital in
Darlinghurst, will establish and supervise the injecting room on a
trial basis over 18 months.