INJECTION REFORMS ON TABLE, SAYS A-G

The Attorney-General, Mr Shaw, has given qualified support to
decriminalising the act of injecting heroin, confirming he will present a
report recommending the move to the NSW Drug Summit next week.

And yesterday, the Uniting Church's the Rev Ray Richmond closed the
controversial trial injecting room at the Wayside Chapel at Kings Cross in
"deference to calm and rational debate" at the summit.

However, he warned the length of the moratorium would depend on the outcome
of recommendations to emerge from the conference.

"Our next action will be on the basis of an assessment of the final
communique at the end of the summit," Mr Richmond said. "If it is weak or
equivocal or taking too long a time, we will look at the options and these
include lifting the moratorium and continuing the injection room trial
either here or in another place."

Mr Shaw said he believed there was value in a recommendation that
self-administration of heroin be decriminalised. As revealed in the Herald
yesterday, his department's criminal law reform division established a
review of self-administration laws after a 26-year-old man was charged with
manslaughter for passing a clean syringe to a fellow drug user, who later
overdosed and died. He is the first person to be charged with manslaughter
for aiding and abetting self-administration - on the basis that supplying
the clean needle and
syringe was a dangerous and unlawful act that caused death.

Health authorities fear it could discourage the common practice of users
picking up clean syringes for themselves and friends and reporting to
needle-exchange programs.

The proposal is simply to decriminalise the act of injecting, not the
possession, sale or supply of heroin. Mr Shaw said he would not pre-empt the
summit debate, but he would certainly place the proposal on the table.

"It is worthy of consideration and will be put to the Drug Summit," he said.

Yesterday's decision to close the injection room followed a raid by Kings
Cross police on Wednesday, when one man was arrested and charged with
possession of heroin and another two were issued notices to attend court on
charges of self-administration.

Yesterday, the Rev Bill Crews, of the Uniting Church in Ashfield, called on
supporters of the injecting room to make their views known to him so he
could represent them at the summit. He said many churchgoing people and
religious ministers were sad about the closure because they saw it "as a way
of saving lives".

Mr Tony Trimingham, a vocal supporter of the injecting room, said other
churches were ready to open such facilities in Melbourne, the Central Coast
and Brisbane. At this week's 175th birthday of the NSW Supreme Court, Chief
Justice James Spigelman said contemporary problems facing the judiciary
included the alarming growth in drug abuse.

"The criminal justice system is not necessarily an effective means of
ensuring that addiction is reduced," he said. "But the law in this State
does not regard drug addiction as a mitigating factor for a crime of
personal violence like armed robbery."