CUT DEATHS WITH SHOOTING GALLERIES: VICHEALTH CHIEF

Victoria should consider clean injecting rooms for heroin users, heroin
substitution trials and needle and syringe exchange programs for prisoners,
a leading public health advocate said yesterday.

The chief executive officer of VicHealth, Dr Rob Moodie, said the concept
of harm minimisation needed to be firmly entrenched in public health
policy. ``From a public health point of view, you have to support people's
capacity to reduce their harm, because in the long run that reduces the
harm to the community,'' he said.

Dr Moodie said confronting illicit drug use was a huge health challenge,
and he expressed strong support for a new Victoria Police drug diversion
pilot program.

Under the program, first-time hard-drug users receive warnings and
treatment instead of being charged. Dr Moodie's comments come just days
after a study of heroin deaths in Victoria revealed the state was headed
for a record death toll from the killer drug this year.

By mid-December, 225 Victorians had died from heroin overdoses in 1998.
Five years ago, heroin overdoses claimed about 45 lives.

Dr Moodie's comments, made shortly before VicHealth's annual general
meeting yesterday, were warmly welcomed by one of Melbourne's leading drug
and alcohol researchers, Dr Alison Ritter. ``It's very timely and something
needs to be done,'' said Dr Ritter, who is the head of research at Turning
Point Alcohol and Drug Centre. ``The reality is that our heroin-overdose
rate is increasing.''

Both Dr Moodie and Dr Ritter said needle exchange programs in prisons would
help stem Australia's rampant Hepatitis C problem.

``Currently, if you don't have Hepatitis C before you go into prison, then
it's a good way of getting it,'' Dr Moodie said.

Aside from the enormous drugs challenge, Dr Moodie said a greater effort
was needed to improve the health of the underprivileged, who have higher
rates of smoking and heart disease and, often, a shorter life expectancy.

``I think the biggest challenge is to make sure that the health gains that
we have had in the last 10 to 15 years are distributed evenly over the
population,'' Dr Moodie said.

Checked-by: Richard Lake