COUNCILS CONDEMN BAN ON DRUG CLINIC

The Salvation Army will take court action for the first time in its history
after its plan to build a $5 million, 40-bed drug rehabilitation centre was
rejected by Newcastle Council.

An alliance of 30 regional and city councils condemned news of the
decision, carried 6-5 at a meeting this week despite support from council
planners and the Labor Lord Mayor, Councillor Greg Heys.

It comes just one week after the end of the successful NSW Drug Summit and
only 24 hours after it was revealed that Wyong Shire Council has moved to
shut the oldest privately run methadone clinic on the Central Coast, paying
$70,000 to buy out three leases.

The Newcastle centre was to be funded entirely by $5 million in charity
funds raised by the Salvation Army's Red Shield Appeal, but a vocal
resident backlash scuppered the plan, which would have doubled the number
of beds at an existing centre in Newcastle.

Cr Heys warned that the Newcastle community was "in denial" about the drug
problem, and community education to harness support on drug issues was
urgently needed.

"If there had not been this level of resident fear, this lack of education
about these issues, perhaps [it would not have been rejected]. People are
just so anxious [they] were not prepared to work with this," he said.

"The bulk of the community is in a state of denial about these issues ...
we need time to try and get some acceptance about these things."

The head of the newly established conservative organisation called
Australian Cities Against Drugs, Tamworth Deputy Mayor Cr Warren Woodley,
called on the Salvation Army to move the project to another town in NSW.

"Newcastle's loss will be another town's gain," Cr Woodley said.

"We can't understand why any council would reject such an important
program. However they have, and I see no reason why the Salvation Army
should have to spend money in the Land and Environment Court trying to get
an unco-operative council to change its mind.

"I feel sorry for the people of Newcastle, particularly the families of
addicts who are desperate to get their children off drugs."

A spokesman for the Salvation Army confirmed that a legal challenge would
be mounted in the Land and Environment Court.

Earmarked for a four-hectare site at Elermore Vale, near Wallsend, the
centre would have replaced an 18-bed rehabilitation centre at Wickham in
Newcastle, effectively doubling capacity in the region. At present, all
Salvation Army rehabilitation centres in NSW are full.

The complex was designed for recovering drug, alcohol and gambling addicts
who are in the second stage of a 10-month program based around total
abstinence and supported by attendance at 12-step programs such as
Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous.

He said the Wickham Centre had been operating for more than 15 years in
complete harmony with the local community and that the new centre would be
run in exactly the same manner. A Red Shield Family Store had also been set
aside for the site.

According to a Salvation Army spokesman, misinformation and fear about the
centre, including incorrect rumours that the centre would contain a
methadone clinic or needle exchange program, had contributed to the problem.