HEROIN SITE NO SURPRISE TO MINISTER

NSW Health Minister Andrew Refshauge conceded yesterday he had already
promised to relocate an inner-Sydney needle exchange program, more than 12
months before the prospect of more bad publicity forced him to close it on
Sunday.

Dr Refshauge stopped the program in Caroline Lane, Redfern, after a teenage
boy was pictured on the weekend shooting up on heroin with needles supplied
by the NSW Health Department.

The mother of the boy, thought to be 16 years old and a user for six months,
said she was concerned at how easily her son could buy heroin.

"I'm worried that he's going to kill himself. He's overdosed once," she told
the Nine network.

"Because he's 16 I can't get him in rehab or anything . . . because he
doesn't have to."

Dr Refshauge's spokesman said Department of Community Services workers were
visiting the family involved.

Dr Refshauge said a review of the $9 million statewide program and its
continued use by teenagers would not be completed until after the March 27
election. But he hoped the review "would find a better answer than what
we've got at the moment".

"I would love to have a case where we don't have anybody taking up heroin in
our world. That isn't the case . . . and we have to find the best answers to
that."

Doctors and drug and alcohol groups warned against shutting down the whole
program which has been successful in reducing the spread of HIV among drug
injectors.

Figures show demand for clean needles had grown exponentially with NSW
Health handing out 4 million in 1995-96 and 5.9 million in 1997-98. The NSW
Users and AIDS Association, which distributes more than 80,000 needles a
year, said demand for needles had grown 100 per cent in recent years.

The 10-year-old program operates from 28 mobile and 320 fixed centres with
workers handing out clean needles and syringes and disposing of used ones.

US studies show such programs do not increase illegal drug use but they do
reduce the spread of the AIDS virus and Hepatitis C.

A secondary schools study released yesterday by NSW Health shows teenagers
as young as 13 had used illicit drugs with 5 per cent of boys and 3 per cent
of girls taking narcotics including heroin. Some 39 per cent of boys and 31
per cent of girls had used marijuana, an increase on previous studies
especially among 13 and 14-year-olds, the study says.

The State Opposition and Redfern residents accused the Government of
ignoring the long-standing problem of teenagers injecting heroin in that
area - an allegation denied by Dr Refshauge.

The minister defended the Government's record on drug rehabilitation, saying
funding had grown to $70 million - despite Opposition claims funding had
been slashed.

Opposition health spokeswoman Jillian Skinner said that under a Coalition
government teenagers would be sent to counselling and optional
rehabilitation if they wanted clean needles for drug use.