I was hoping the winds of change in the Coalition might bring more
sense and compassion into its strategies on dealing with drugs and
take us away from the present auction on law and order.

If the quality of its potential ministers is measured by Andrew Fraser
(Herald, January 12), then heaven help us.

His four strategies for eliminating drugs from prisons are: sniffer
dogs, ending methadone maintenance, banning visits to drug users, and
forced Naltrexone treatment. Now he has come up with a real doozey -
all drug overdoses to be attended by police and for it to be mandatory
for medical staff to call police to every drug overdose they treat.

In our efforts to save lives, we have been trying to encourage police
to avoid drug overdose attendance so that friends of users can safely
call help when needed. If this policy comes in, deaths will increase.

I eagerly await Mr Fraser's next initiative - concentration camps for
drug users, perhaps.

TONY TRIMINGHAM,
WILLOUGHBY