HOWARD SAYS WHO BACKS HIS OPPOSITION TO HEROIN TRIALS

Prime Minister John Howard today cited World Health Organisation
research on the Swiss heroin trial as support for his opposition to a
similar trial in Australia.

The Swiss experiment has been used by proponents of a similar trial
here as an example of the benefits of supplying heroin addicts with
controlled amounts of the drug on prescription, saying crime rates and
overdose deaths have dropped.

But Mr Howard, who promised in February to come up with conclusive
evidence against the heroin trial, said a new WHO-commissioned
evaluation of the Swiss trial had cast significant doubt over previous
claims about its success.

"The WHO report ... found that 'some of the findings of the study'
conducted by the Swiss government 'have been somewhat over-interpreted
as favourable to heroin maintenance treatment'," Mr Howard said in a
statement.

The evaluation pointed to the fact that the Swiss trial included
comprehensive social and psychological services and did not have a
control group to pinpoint whether the same results could have been
achieved without prescription of heroin, Mr Howard said.

"In other words, the improvements recorded in the health and
well-being of participants could have been due to the intensive
non-drug treatment they received," he said.

The evaluation found no convincing evidence that heroin prescription
generally led to better outcomes than methadone treatment, and no data
to back up claims that the reduction in criminal behaviour persisted
after dropping out from treatment, he said.

"The WHO evaluation confirms our doubts about the true value of the
Swiss experience, and provides no reason to change our opposition to
heroin trials," Mr Howard said.

"If a trial were to be held in Australia, it would send exactly the
wrong message to the community and would work against our education
efforts.

"In light of the new doubts raised through the WHO, a heroin trial
remains a risky proposition that is unacceptable to the federal
government."

But the Australian Democrats said Mr Howard had got the heroin issue
embarrassingly wrong.

Democrats leader Meg Lees said Mr Howard's ideological opposition to a
scientific trial had clouded his ability to rationally assess the findings.

"The WHO review confirmed the findings of previous studies that the
heroin trial dramatically reduced drug related crime as well as
increased the health and employment prospects of participants,"
Senator Lees said in a statement.