HEROIN INC

POLICE Chief Commissioner Neil Comrie has backed free heroin trials in
a dramatic turn in the drugs debate.

His change of attack last night in the war against heroin came as it
was revealed Australia's illegal drug trade was worth $7billion.

Mr Comrie told the Herald Sun a radical new solution was needed to
solve the heroin epidemic.

Victoria's top law enforcer stressed he opposed a soft stand on drugs
and rejected legalised or decriminalised heroin or marijuana.

But Mr Comrie revealed he now supported ACT-style heroin trials as a
step to beat the crisis.

"This is without question of doubt the biggest social issue
confronting Australia at the present time," he said.

"This is not about going soft on drugs.

"I'm talking about a very small, very well-managed scientific trial to
see what sort of impact this has on a select group of
individuals.

"These people are already addicted and if we don't do something with
them they are either going to die from a heroin overdose or they are
going to continue committing crime on the rest of the community."

Mr Comrie's comments were in response to the Herald Sun's graphic
coverage of the heroin epidemic, which has claimed 60 Victorian lives
in the first 46 days of this year.

In other developments yesterday:

PREMIER Jeff Kennett branded drug dealers "bastards", claiming many
lived in Toorak and on Sydney's North Shore.

HERALD SUN INSIGHT revealed Melbourne took a third of all heroin
smuggled into the country.

THE nation's drug trade was valued at between $7billion and
$9.6billion, ranking it with the oil industry and bigger than tobacco
and cigarettes.

PRIME Minister John Howard said he would not shift on his no free
heroin trials policy.

DRUG barons face life sentences under state Labor's plans to crack
down on serious heroin traffickers.

It was also revealed:

DRUG dealing charges in the CBD have soared by more than 600 per cent
over the past five years.

ARMED robberies doubled in the heart of Melbourne, up from 79 in 1993
to 163 last year.

ORGANISED crime seizes about 90 per cent of the profits of drug
crime.

FIGHTING the drug war has cost almost three times the amount of
illegal drugs imported to Australia in the past 15 years, $200 billion
compared to $85 billion.

Mr Comrie explained his dramatic change on drugs.

"I would have been one of those a few years ago who would have been a
strong advocate of the prohibitionist solution," he said.

"Having now thought a lot more deeply about the problem, I have
realised that is not a total solution at all.

"I've been re-thinking my views on this for some time."

Mr Kennett, a supporter of the trials of supplying heroin to
registered addicts unsuccessfully proposed by the ACT government, said
it was time to deal with the traffickers.

"It's dealing with those people whom I suspect are sitting on North
Shore in Sydney and Toorak ... making a fortune while killing people
on our streets," he said.

The Premier called for a multi-faceted approach to the drug
epidemic.

"It has got to be multi-pronged and, as I say, it's just the most
frustrating thing in the world - what do you do?" he told 3AW.

"I am scared of further encouraging use, as opposed to saying maybe we
spend more money trying to identify those who bring it in ...
penalising those who spread it.

"I am prepared to trial anything."

Prime Minister John Howard described the heroin problem as a national
tragedy.

However, he did not favor solutions such as the heroin
trials.

"The only way that governments can hope to make a difference is to
follow a strategy in three areas: we need to educate people against
the perils of drug addiction; we need to have effective treatment
programs; and we need more effective law enforcement," Mr Howard said.

Health Minister Rob Knowles said heroin trials could not go ahead
without the approval of the Federal Government and special
legislation.

But he reiterated his support for the trials while announcing the
government's new heroin education strategy revealed in yesterday's
Herald Sun.

"The Commonwealth Government has to legislate to allow the trials to
proceed," Mr Knowles said.

"We would have to legislate to make it clear that this was a medical
trial to comply with those arrangements."

Det-Acting Supt Graham Brown of Melbourne police said the rising crime
rate was directly linked to the city's drug trade.

Aggressive begging often escalated to violence or threats of violence
with offenders using knives and syringes.