NSW MOVES TOWARDS SHOOTING GALLERIES

NSW came closer to becoming the first state in the country to trial
legal shooting galleries when Premier Bob Carr last night gave his
strongest support for the proposal yet.

Delegates at a drug summit last night voted in favour of a resolution
that says the NSW Government should not veto proposals for trialling
safe injecting rooms from non-government organisations.

Mr Carr, a long-time opponent to shooting galleries, was a surprise
supporter when he told the NSW drug summit he wanted the Government to
examine a plan to allow the facilities to be established by
non-government organisations.

``This is a matter that's got to be faced up to,'' Mr Carr told the
summit.

``If there are activities taking place in the parks and in the back
lanes that the community wants to deal with in a better fashion then
we'll explore the option you've put to us for dealing with it in a
better fashion.''

Two years ago the Premier refused to accept shooting galleries when
the Wood Royal Commission into police corruption suggested their
establishment.

Mr Carr's younger brother Gregory died of a heroin overdose in the
early 1980s aged 28 after lying comatose in a hospice for almost a
year.

He said the last thing his government would do was make a decision
that would make the situation worse for children on the streets.

The final resolution was slightly different to a preliminary proposal
agreed to by Attorney-General Jeff Shaw earlier this week where the
Health Department would have operated the facilities.

Opposition Leader Kerry Chikarovski voted against the
resolution.

``I am still not persuaded that injecting rooms are in fact an
appropriate response to what we are doing with drugs,'' Mrs
Chikarovski said.

Debate is continuing on other controversial proposals, including
heroin trials.

Earlier, former Royal Commissioner James Wood repeated his call for
legal heroin shooting galleries but stopped short of backing a heroin
trial.

Justice Wood, now the head of the Supreme Court's Common Law Division,
told the summit the system for dealing with addicted criminals was
inadequate.

Addicts appeared before the courts with monotonous regularity, he
said.

``We can continue on our path of destruction of individuals and
families and a waste of economic resources or we can seriously
consider the options that are available to us today,'' Justice Wood
said.

Justice Wood's strategy involved strong law enforcement against drug
suppliers, rehabilitation for addicts and keeping young offenders and
first-time minor drug offenders out of jail.

He did not call for a heroin trial but said all rehabilitation and
detoxification options should be trialled.