ADDICT GIVEN BAIL TO CARE FOR FAMILY

The prominent drug-rehabititation campaigner Marion Watson - arrested on
charges of supplying and possessing heroin - was granted $10,000 bail in
the ACT Supreme Court yesterday after arguing she wanted be at home to look
after her two teenage sons and elderly mother, who suffers from asthma.

But Watson, who was awarded the Order of Australia Medal last year for
services to community health, will have to report to police daily, continue
her methadone program, under-go counselling and might be subjected to urine
analysis to assess possible drug intake.

The decision by Justice Terence Higgins overturned a ruling on Thursday by
the ACT Magistrates' Court that she was likely to compromise police
investigations into a large-scale heroin ring.

Watson, 46, is charged with possessing a trafficable amount of heroin,
supplying heroin and possessing money suspected to be the proceeds of
crime. She had been in custody since her arrest in the Canberra suburb of
Kingston on Christmas Eve.

In handing down his review of the magistrate's decision to refuse bail,
Justice Higgins said his concerns about the likelihood that Watson might
reoffend were not strong enough to refuse bail.

Police have alleged that Watson worked the "day shift" delivering heroin to
addicts as part of a large-scale, 24-hour operation.

Watson told the court she wanted be at home to look after her elderly
mother, who suffered from asthma and used a walking frame, and her two
teenage sons.

She is due to reappear on January 27.