EXPERT SEEKS CITY HEROIN TRIAL

It was now time to trial controlled dispensing of heroin to addicts, a
Wollongong expert on drug use has said.

With more than 600 heroin addicts on methadone programs in Wollongong,
including 300 at the Denison St methadone clinic, unit manager Richard
Carbury believes it is time to look at other solutions.

"Unless we try a trial heroin program we will never know whether it is
successful," he said.

"There are instances in countries like Switzerland where supplying heroin to
addicts has been successful."

Independent candidate for Keira Dave Martin last weekend said he supported a
controlled program of administering heroin to addicts.

He said this would be an alternative to the present situation where addicts
were being driven by their addiction into crime.

Councillor Martin, a school principal and Wollongong City Councillor, said
legal solutions to heroin abuse had failed.

Mr Carbury, whose privately run clinic supplies methadone to more than 200
addicts each day at $6 a dose, said a heroin trial would not only decrease
crime but also reduce the number of new users.

A registered nurse with considerable experience in dealing with drug
dependence, Mr Carbury said heroin abuse in Wollongong appeared to be
getting ``progressively worse''.

This was due to a number of social factors and the drug's availability.

"As someone once said, there are many pathways to addiction," he said.

Mr Carbury said his clinic had had to turn away addicts recently because its
program was limited to a maximum of 300 a day.

At $25 for a cap of heroin at present, the price was cheap which meant
addicts could seek a greater number of hits each day, he said.

"Police and Customs do a good job with limited resources but there is no way
they will stop it (drug use)," Mr Carbury said.

Mr Carbury said the clinic's owners were looking for a new site which was
not close to schools or residential development but close enough to public
transport.