BEAZLEY GIVES IN-PRINCIPLE SUPPORT TO INJECTING ROOM

The federal opposition today gave in-principle support to an illegal heroin
injecting room in Sydney but warned organisers to think carefully about the
legal ramifications.

The Tolerance Room, or T-Room, opened its doors to addicts at the Wayside
Chapel in Kings Cross yesterday and will continue to open three times a
week for at least a month.

Opposition leader Kim Beazley said the Wayside Chapel was doing "its level
best" and "a magnificent job".

"I think they're coming to grips with this notion of 100 per cent
commitment to keeping people alive," Beazley told ABC radio.

"I just hope that they've thought through all the legal ramifications."

He said there were a number of "quite difficult legal problems" that the
chapel needed to think about.

He said the problems extended beyond police matters relating to the use of
illicit drugs.

There was also the question of duty of care and who would be responsible if
a heroin addict overdosed while using the room, he said.

"In principle, we don't actually have a problem with these notions of safe
injecting rooms but we do note this: firstly all the major councils in the
major council cities have got a mayor's program together to look at the
issue of safe injecting rooms and also all the legal ramifications
associated with it," Beazley said.

"And I think it's possible that the Wayside Chapel may need to think these
things through very, very carefully."

The churches behind the project are the Catholic Church of St Canice, the
Anglican Church of St John, the Wayside Chapel of the Uniting Church and
the Ashfield Uniting Church, according to a document at the chapel yesterday.

The initiative was yesterday condemned by Prime Minister John Howard and
the New South Wales government.