REWARD THOSE WHO BEAT DRUGS: JUDGE

The head judge of NSW's new drug court wants people to donate rewards for
criminals who stay off heroin.

As the Premier's Drug Summit gets under way today, Judge Gay Murrell, SC,
was to address a Law Society breakfast meeting, urging the community to come
forward with prizes that will act as an incentive for successful
participants of programs ordered by her court.

"As the court has operated for three months, there are participants who are
well progressed towards rehabilitation," Judge Murrell said.

The court wants community help in offering rewards, she said, urging
individuals and organisations to contact her associate with ideas.

For the first time, Judge Murrell is due to make public detailed statistics
today on how the court is coping with more than 130 referrals it has
received so far. A third of hopefuls were struck out because they did not
fit the court's criteria, she said.

However, around 80 per cent of those accepted remain in treatment programs
ordered by the court. These range from complete abstinence, based on the
successful Narcotics Anonymous program, to methadone, which acts as a heroin
substitute, or Naltrexone, a new drug which is claimed to block addiction
craving.

The court represents a new approach to tackling a growing drug crisis, said
Judge Murrell, quoting Albert Einstein to sum up the tragic and senseless
repetition of the cycle of addiction: "Insanity is doing the same thing over
and over again, and expecting different results."

The crisis had a human as well as a social impact, she said. "Many of us
have friends, brothers or sisters, sons or daughters who have been or willbe
caught up in drug abuse."

Others have been violated by addicts who have stolen from their homes, with
statistics showing thieves who steal to stoke their voracious heroin habit
commit at least 13 burglaries a month, generating an average weekly income
of $3,000.

Judge Murrell, whose court is spearheading a new approach to tackling
drug-related crime, revealed there is some friction betweenher staff and
health professionals.

She warned there is no point in continuing to work with people who "regard
the court as a challenge to their right to control a health care issue."

The drug court works by taking referrals from district and local courts in
greater western Sydney, and sits at Parramatta.

Criminals taking part in drug court programs are strictly monitored, and
lapses are quickly punished. Random urine tests are used to detect drugs,
and any breaches, including committing other crimes, mean a new hearing,
which can result in a jail sentence.

"Undoubtedly for some [the court] will succeed," she said. "However, despite
a desire to rehabilitate, many offenders who enter a drug court program may
not be at a point in their lives where they are capable of rehabilitation.
These offenders will fail and will be imprisoned."