DON'T PLAY WITH LAW: UK EXPERT

Drug-injecting rooms are unethical and might "hold the law to ransom",
Britain's Anti-Drug Co-ordinator said in Sydney yesterday.

Mr Keith Hellawell, a former coalminer and police officer and author of
Britain's ambitious anti-drugs strategy, is meeting the Prime Minister, Mr
Howard, today to discuss drugs strategies.

He said the British strategy used a broad approach to tackle the drugs
problem, including education, treatment and reducing the availability of
drugs.

Injecting rooms were unethical, Mr Hellawell said, allowing drug dealers to
profit and doing nothing to reduce crime and drug dependency.

"You give some degree of comfort to people who shoot up. They are still
morally a risk and the community is at risk from them."

Such injecting areas offered protection to people who chose not to use the
medical support and advice provided.

"There is no room for it and there is no need for it. I couldn't condone it
because it is illegal."

Britain's 10-year, #200 million ($500 million) strategy, Tackling Drugs,
aims to reduce the proportion of young people using drugs, decrease access
to drugs and increase the participation of users in treatment programs.

During his Australian visit he had seen a commitment to change and a
recognition that old methods did not work, Mr Hellawell said.

"A lot of members of the community are getting pretty cross with police
that they are not doing anything" about drug-dealing in their communities,
he said. In Britain, police were, for example, placed outside nightclubs to
reduce the availability of drugs to casual users. "We are going to put the
size 10 boots of the British Bobby in there. It's going to disrupt the
activities."

Mr Hellawell said the Blair Labour Government's message was "tough on drugs
and tough on the causes of drugs".

The strategy was also linked with other government programs to repair
damaged communities, get children back to school, and solve family and
mental health problems and other underlying causes. The Government was also
committed to halving the number of people sleeping rough and seeking to get
people back into work.

"There are no quick fixes," but the first results were being achieved in
the UK, he said.