PASS JAIL: NEW COURT OFFERS REHABILITATION FOR DRUG ADDICTS

The legal system opened two new chapters yesterday - a court was established
to offer drug addicts rehabilitation instead of jail, and the Supreme Court
went high-tech.

At the launch of the trial of the country's first drug court, the NSW
Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Nicholas Cowdery, QC, warned the "war on
drugs" was failing.

He welcomed the new court but stressed that for it to work, money must be
spent on support services, and he urged authorities to act courageously to
reduce the damage caused by drug addiction.

"I consider it absurd for any government and its agencies to persist in
conduct, described as a 'war on drugs', that is ineffective and
counter-productive," he said at the official ceremony to launch the new
court.

The Parramatta court, based on similar successful schemes in the US, will be
headed by Judge Gay Murrell.

Addicts taking part in the pilot program will have jail sentences suspended
while they undertake strict rehabilitation courses. But the scheme is
already coming under fire from campaigners, critical that the court will
offer methadone, a synthetic heroin substitute.

The Leader of the Opposition, Mrs Chikarovski, said yesterday she fully
supported drug courts and called on the Government to ensure rehabilitation
programs were adequately financed.

But she also said methadone treatment should not be part of rehabilitation.

"The philosophy of the drug court is to break the cycle of addiction;
including a methadone program undermines that philosophy," she said.

The Democrats' drug policy, released yesterday, called for a heroin trial in
NSW, the reintroduction of wide-bore needles, the establishment of safe
injecting rooms and decriminalisation of marijuana for personal use.

Democrats leader Dr Arthur Chesterfield-Evans accused the Premier of
conducting a public relations exercise on drugs by announcing a drug summit
after the election, instead of confronting the problem immediately.

Across town in the Supreme Court, laptop computers and new technology were
used in the Court of Appeal, with the Chief Justice, Justice Jim Spigelman,
promising the move would save time - and paper.

Justice Spigelman and colleagues Justice Charles Sheller and Justice Paul
Stein summoned, with a touch of a button, more than 50 volumes of appeal
books and about 11,500 pages of evidence via laptop computers.

Justice Spigelman promised that all Supreme Court hearings could use the
technology, with "immediate benefits".