DECLARING WAR ON DRUGS IN JAIL

AN all-out "jihad" to rid jails of drugs has been promised by the State
Opposition if it wins the March election, including a possible end to
contact visits and a scaling down of methadone programs.

The hardline, zero tolerance plan also would examine targeting jail
personnel with sniffer dogs before work to stop them trafficking.

Opposition corrective services spokesman Andrew Fraser, who unveiled the
policy to The Daily Telegraph yesterday, said heroin was easier to get in
jail than on the streets. He said: "I want to launch an all-out jihad on
drugs in jail.

"There are ways to do it and I will do everything I can to stop them
getting in."

He accused the Carr Government of being soft on the issue. But a spokesman
for Corrective Services Minister Bob Debus said NSW already spent more than
all other States combined on fighting drugs in jail, $3.7 million last year.

Mr Fraser was appointed to his shadow portfolio a little over a month ago.
The former caravan park proprietor said his first act as minister would be
to independently audit the drug problem, including how drugs enter the
prison system.

"If it is getting in inside tennis balls thrown over the fences, then we'll
build higher fences," he said.

Non-contact visits through a glass wall would be the norm if illegal
substances were changing hands. And if hallucinogenic drugs were in ink or
stamps used on letters, then all letters would be photocopied before being
handed to inmates, he said.

Mr Fraser also said he would like to wind back the methadone program,
arguing it was merely replacing one addiction for another and offered no
long-term hope.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski