JUDGE SUPPORTS TRIALS FOR HEROIN

A Victorian Supreme Court judge yesterday backed heroin trials and dismissed
as ``primitive'' a zero-tolerance approach to drug policing.

``There are clearly long-term drug users to whom I personally would provide
heroin if it were legal,'' Justice Frank Vincent told a Rotary Club lunch.
``That is on the basis that it is absolutely unrealistic to anticipate that
there is going to be a fundamental change in their existence.''

Justice Vincent called for judges to have the flexibility to make
``sensible'' rulings on individual cases.

A combination of approaches was needed, including heroin trials, recovery
rooms and imprisonment.

``We will need to adopt all ... of the available techniques that are
present,'' he said. ``Clearly those who exploit others must also be dealt
with in a fashion which reflects our disgust and our rejection of that kind
of behavior.''

He later told reporters the notion of a zero-tolerance approach was
``simplistic and relatively primitive''.

``We have got to use law enforcement as a mechanism (and) we have to use a
variety of other mechanisms. The arbitrary exclusion of any particular
mechanism is not really very clever.''

The Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, recently met an advocate of zero
tolerance, the director of the United States-based Office of National Drug
Policy, Mr Barry McCaffrey. He has invited him to Australia for further
discussion.

Mr Howard has ruled out support for heroin trials, which have been proposed
by Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory.

Justice Vincent said he was ``uncomfortable'' and hesitant about
decriminalising any drugs. His role as chairman of the Adult Parole Board
had exposed him to the ``incredible damage'' they caused.

He was also critical of the harsher penalties for crime in the US, saying
this had created an ``appalling mess''. About 1.6 million people were jailed
in the US - four times the number 20 years ago - and about one in 35 adult
Americans had a current corrections order against them.

Justice Vincent said Victorian judges had been criticised for being too
lenient and there were increasing calls for harsher penalties for drug and
sex offenders.

``I am not exactly sure I understand why it is the community is so attracted
by what I regard as relatively simplistic solutions, or is prepared to
embrace, with an increasing degree of ease, very significant intrusions into
our rights and civil liberties,'' he said.

The community appeared to expect to resolve deep-seated social problems
through applying the force of the criminal law.

``If that is what is wanted of us, then we will fail you,'' he said. ``The
criminal law is, at its best, a blunt instrument of coercion. It operates
effectively only when all else has failed.''

He also expressed ``serious reservations'' about the privatisation of
prisons and said rigid controls were vital.