COALITION MPS DIVIDED OVER REFORMS

Coalition MPs were divided yesterday over liberalising drug laws, as
NSW MP John Ryan and Senator Marise Payne spoke in favour of injecting
rooms, while State front-bencher Peter Debnam took a hard line against
any loosening of a prohibition stance.

Mr Ryan said he believed, as a Christian, "it is important to give
drug addicts the opportunity to be saved". He argued shooting
galleries were a natural extension of the needle exchange program.

"If we're able to give needles to drug addicts on a no-questions-asked
basis, it's not a great step to give them space to carry out their
deadly habit in a position which might stop them dying," he said.

Kevin Rozzoli is the only other State Liberal MP to have backed
injecting rooms.

The Federal Labor MP for Sydney, Ms Tanya Plibersek, said fatal
overdoses in Frankfurt, Germany, fell from 141 to 22 after a heroin
safe injecting room was opened there in 1997. "I don't think we can
afford to ignore those types of figures," she said.

Senator Payne went one step further and said she also supported a
heroin trial. "For some, the law reform that's necessary to support
(heroin) trials or the so-called self-injecting rooms and the
decriminalisation of self-administration (injecting) may be the only
thing that saves their lives," she said.

Mr Debnam disagreed. "We need the courage to say no to
decriminalisation, no to shooting galleries, no to heroin trials and
no to reduced penalties for any drug offence," he said. He insisted
abstinence and personal responsibility were paramount, along with
family values.

Mr Debnam was critical of the way the conference was conducted, and
argued it had been manipulated from the outset.

Entertainer and anti-drugs activist Normie Rowe, whose daughter has
been addicted to heroin, also said the summit was being run with a
harm minimisation agenda.

The seven youth delegates to the summit were among advocates for the
more radical proposals, joining in a call for free heroin trials, safe
injecting rooms and decriminalisation of possession of marijuana for
personal use.

Mr Troy Bramston, from the Premier's Youth Advisory Council, said: "I
urge delegates at this summit to move out of your entrenched positions
to consider new solutions - but this requires leadership."