DRUG COURT ATTACKED BY ADVOCATE

AUSTRALIA'S first Drug Court has been criticised on the eve of its
opening in Sydney by the man who pushed for its establishment.

Sydney barrister Ross Goodridge said an option of the court to refer
addicts to a methadone program was "totally inappropriate".

Instead of moving people from heroin to abstinence in a short period,
the program could increase a user's addiction through higher doses of
methadone, he said.

The Drug Court at Parramatta will open today with the first cases to
be heard before Drug Court judge Gay Murrell tomorrow.

Under the $12 million two-year trial, addicts who plead guilty have a
choice of jail or undertaking one of the treatment or rehabilitation
programs for 12 months.

If the offender chooses rehabilitation his or her sentence is
suspended and they will appear before the court weekly and undergo
random drug testing.

"The proposition that the courts in Australia should be used in any
way to compel a person into drug addiction or a higher level of drug
addiction offends my sense of everything that I believe the judicial
system does and should stand for," Mr Goodridge said in a report to
State MPs obtained by The Daily Telegraph.

Only heroin addicts guilty of non-violent crimes, such as minor drug
dealing or theft, will be eligible to appear before the Drug Court.

Mr Goodridge approached the State Government last year to trial the
court. But in the report to MPs he identifies a number of concerns
about the operation of the methadone program, including that
participants are not tested to determine if they are taking other drugs.

A spokesman for Health Minister Dr Andrew Refshauge said yesterday Mr
Goodridge's report was referred to the Health Department.

The spokesman said the methadone program would play a vital role in
breaking the cycle of addiction and getting people back to work.

The court is based on a US model which found 87 per cent of
participants who successfully completed treatment programs did not
re-offend.

Seventy per cent of NSW jail inmates are serving terms for drug-
related offences.