PROSECUTORS URGE FREE HEROIN TRIAL

Three of Australia's leading directors of public prosecutions have advocated
prescribing free heroin to drug addicts.

In a radical stand 10 days before the NSW Drug Summit, the NSW DPP, Mr
Nicholas Cowdery, QC, the South Australian DPP, Mr Paul Rofe, QC, and the
Australian Capital Territory DPP, Mr Richard Refshauge, said prescription
heroin should be given to addicts not only on the streets, but to those
serving prison terms.

In a joint statement issued through Mr Cowdery's office in Sydney yesterday,
they said a trial of free heroin should operate in conjunction with wider
drug rehabilitation programs. This would lead to a reduction in drug-related
crimes, easing the burden on public funding of criminal prosecutions and
allowing more funds to be redirected to catching major importers of illicit
drugs.

The DPPs urged State and Federal governments to decriminalise marijuana use,
treating it on a par with tobacco.

The directors said they had "concerns about the continuation, unaltered, of
the present legal regime that applies in relation to illicit drugs in
Australia".

They said drug strategies had for several decades placed "a large
responsibility for addressing 'the drug problem' onto the criminal justice
system".

"The directors accept that they have a continuing responsibility to seek
improvements to the criminal justice systems of their various
jurisdictions," the statement, issued after the recent Australasian Drug
Strategy Conference in Adelaide, said.

However, all three DPPs said they were "also concerned to ensure that scarce
public resources are not expended unproductively".

The three directors said there should be more emphasis on dealing with the
health and social consequences of drugs, in order to reduce the impact on
the criminal justice system.

The directors urged governments to consider establishing safe injecting
rooms for intravenous drug users where medical care, drug counselling and
access to rehabilitation facilities were available.