CHRISTIAN ETHICS CAN SUPPORT TRIAL

Your readers should be aware that the NSW Council of Churches does not
represent all churches ("Churches reject heroin-trial", CT, 4 April, p.2).

For example, the Uniting Church is not a member, partly because the NSW
council adopts a narrow and conservative approach to various issues.

There are strong arguments, from the perspective of public health and
Christian social ethics, to support a heroin trial. Christian ethics, at its
best, deals with issues in the real world, and matters facing individuals,
families and communities.

A heroin trial could be one part of a total strategy which includes
rehabilitation for existing users, and community education to discourage
people from using in the first place.

There might also be benefits in terms of the transmission of diseases such
as hepatitis and human immunodeficiency virus.

Personally, I hope that the ACT and other jurisdictions are allowed to
proceed with such a trial.

WARREN TALBOT
(Elder, Canberra City Uniting Church)
Theodore