'SHAM' OF A SPECTACLE MAY BE RIGGED - COWDERY

The drug summit has been branded a sham by the NSW Director of Public
Prosecutions, Mr Nicholas Cowdery, QC.

Mr Cowdery, who was not invited to the summit, warned that it may be
"rigged", with set people asked in order to come up with predictable
solutions.

He predicted it would not be too hard to pick the recommendations of
the summit, which would include safe bets such as better education and
more Commonwealth-funded rehabilitation programs.

"There are real long-term and immediate solutions that could be put in
place," Mr Cowdery told the Herald. At a meeting tonight, organised by
the Law Society of NSW, Mr Cowdery will join several key
representatives from the law, community groups and the medical
profession, to tackle the drug crisis, focusing on south-west Sydney -
a trouble spot for heroin.

Mr Cowdery is expected to raise several options in his speech,
including the decriminalisation of heroin, a move he says would weaken
the link between drugs and crime.

A dose of heroin can be produced for less than $1, and issuing it free
to addicts would take the glamour out of using, and mean there was no
money in it for criminals.

Mr Cowdery is due to flag a number of issues tonight, including a
concern that the real criminals - big suppliers - rarely get caught.

The people who ended up in the system were addicts, who stole billions
of dollars through property theft to fuel their habits, and who were
not deterred by heavy sentences.

Mr Cowdery's concerns are backed by statistics, with figures showing
80 per cent of prisoners are in jail because of drug-related crime.

Mr Cowdery and the Law Society president, Ms Margaret Hole, are
expected to support the idea of safe injecting rooms at tonight's meeting.

Ms Hole said the forum would give the public a chance to debate
constructive solutions for dealing with the drug problem, including
the expansion of needle distribution schemes and safe injecting premises.

Addiction was a health problem, not a criminal one, and the use of
drugs for personal use should be decriminalised, she said.

Ms Hole also called for prisoners who received treatment for their
addiction to have this care expanded when they left the jail system,
and warned that many were allowed to "drop through the net" on
release, increasing their chances of returning to a cycle of drug
abuse and crime.

Tonight's meeting is part of Law Week, and the open forum, to be held
at the Sunnybrook Hotel, Hume Highway, Warwick Farm, starts at 7pm.

Speakers will include Mr Cowdery, Ms Hole, NSW Drug Court Judge Neil
Milson, and Federal MP and former Australian Medical Association
president Dr Brendan Nelson.