HEROIN USERS TELL PM OF THE NEEDLE AND THE DAMAGE DONE

In need of a softer image after his tough line on drugs, the Prime Minister,
Mr John Howard, yesterday sat down with people whose lives are defined by
the track marks on their arms.

At Adelaide's Byron Place, a drug support centre run by the Adelaide Central
Mission, the need for compassion, support and practical help for drug
addicts could not have been clearer.

Nor could the contrast have been greater: Mr Howard, stiff and scrubbed in
his shiny suit, rubbed shoulders with society's casualties who it has to be
said were largely pierced, unsuited and unwashed. Grooming and hygiene are
not high priorities when you are struggling to survive.

Nor is that much importance placed on manners. The audience was so noisy and
restive that Mr Howard's words were almost drowned out.

``This is a good meeting,'' he smiled after one interruption.

``It reminds me of some of the older political meetings I used to go to and
I'm enjoying it immensely.''

One man, clearly drunk, interrupted so loudly and so often that the Prime
Minister became little more than a backdrop to his abuse but Mr Howard
pressed on anyway, determined not to mind.

It worked; the drunk grew bored and left.

After his speech another incongruity: a large man in black leather with a
bald head and the name ``Bear'' stamped on his jacket presented a slightly
overwhelmed Mr Howard with a large sheath of flowers.

Then the formalities ceased and Mr Howard turned to chat with a group of
heroin users, moving his chair in closer so they could talk at length.

This was a private conversation, he said, but later one of the group, a
bright young woman called Molly, said Mr Howard had seemed keen to learn and
listen.

Her main plea was to ask him to tell the police to please not turn up and
bust people when an ambulance was called to an overdose.

If the police stayed away, another life might be saved, she said.

Molly, 24, had been through naltrexone detoxification, which left her clean
physically but did nothing for the psychological demons that drove her to
drugs in the first place.

She was smart and looked after herself and stayed away from crime and you
sensed that she had much to offer if heroin was not taking it all.

``I always promised myself that if I got the chance to talk to someone like
him I would do it,'' Molly said. ``I guess I was really trying to make him
understand.''

Heroin was a depressing lifestyle, she said, and she had told Mr Howard she
had tried the methadone and naltrexone and that neither of them had worked.

Perhaps Mr Howard recognised her potential, perhaps not.

Later, in a speech to close the Australasian Conference on Drug Strategy, he
said those he met at Byron Place were the very reason the Government had put
increased emphasis on treatment facilities for those who had made a decision
to try to fix their problem.

``It is a major social menace,'' Mr Howard said, detailing again the
Government's $220million Tough on Drugs initiative.

``It is one of the great threats to the fabric of our modern society.''

It was our responsibility as a nation to be intelligent and not overly
judgmental, he said, but a strong stand was also needed.

That stand was a combination of compassion for the victims and an
understanding that there was evil at the heart of the activities of some.