NO DRUG BOUNDARY

IRONY is heaped on irony in the debate about a heroin trial. The most
recent example is the Court Government's complicity in the PM a threat to
override any State that decides to go it alone.

The biggest irony, though, would be the Federal ALP's backing for John
Howard. Kim Beazley said on 6WF that he did not support heroin trials.

The push for heroin trials and safe injecting places is coming not from the
self-proclaimed most socially progressive of the major parties but from
governments led by the same party as Mr Howard's and Mr Court's - Victoria
and the ACT. Indeed, at last Friday's meeting in Melbourne, Mr Court found
strongest support from the Labor States of Queensland and NSW.

The truth is that the havoc caused by our response to drug use strikes
regardless of social, political and economic backgrounds. The State Labor
Party realises that and has spoken out. So has the WA National Party. The
solid majority support in Victoria and the ACT reported in last week's
polls demonstrates that an informed public is not as hidebound as some
political leaders believe.

W.M. BUSH, vice-president, Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform