WE NEED INJECTING ROOMS, ADMITS RYAN

The Police Commissioner, Mr Peter Ryan, has conceded that there may be
a need for medically supervised heroin injecting rooms in areas like
Kings Cross, but has recommended that if the Government approves such
facilities, they be restricted to hospital sites.

It is understood that Mr Ryan has made his views known privately to
the State Government, stressing the need to tackle policy problems for
police faced with the so-called "honey-pot" effect of dealers
attracted to the site and exploiting its legality.

Mr Ryan, who has consistently taken a tough line on drug law reform,
opposing measures like legal heroin trials and the decriminalisation
of cannabis, has also argued that regardless of the thrust of the
State Government's final Drug Summit recommendations, police must be
provided with clearly defined laws and operational guidelines.

He has urged that police must not be placed in the invidious situation
of having to enforce a legal sanctuary inside injection rooms while a
"free-for-all" occurred outside. Their placement inside hospital
grounds, he has argued, could resolve this problem.

The NSW Cabinet Office is finalising the details of the policy and
legislative changes which will be pursued by the Government in the
wake of the recent Drug Summit's final communiqui.

More than 170 separate recommendations were passed by the NSW Drug
Summit on May 21, including community-based - not government-run -
trials of safe heroin injection rooms and relaxation - but not
decriminalisation - of cannabis laws.

The package of drug law and treatment reforms recommended spanned
legal, health and social policy areas and those which are most likely
to be adopted include:

Trials of a radical new police caution system for first-time cannabis
users. This would provide, for the first time, an alternative to the
criminal justice system for teenagers caught experimenting. Cautions
would be contingent on strict checks as well as the person agreeing to
seek treatment.

Greater funding for treatment and rehabilitation programs,
particularly to increase significantly the number of beds available
for adolescents and teenagers.

Expansion of the Drug Court trials at Parramatta and their extension
into the Children's Court jurisdiction. However, the proposal to
restrict injecting rooms to specific areas such as hospital grounds is
likely to raise serious concerns within the health community as it
would add significant legal and economic responsibilities to an
already stretched system.

In addition, the State Government has made clear that if it opens the
way for injecting rooms, these will not be funded by the State but
must be community-run.

Last night, Dr Alex Wodak, director of drug and alcohol services at St
Vincent's Hospital, said there would be at least two serious problems
with such a plan, not the least of which being that most hospitals
already have major space problems.

"First, it is very difficult to imagine that we could find, inside the
grounds, a suitable or vacant facility," he said. "The second is that
we are more likely to be effective if we place these facilities where
... the drug users are rather than having a perfect facility
inconvenient to drug users."