JUNKIE JUSTICE

AUSTRALIA'S first court exclusively for drug addicts will operate at
Parramatta under a $5 million State Government trial next year.

Premier Bob Carr said yesterday the two-year trial based on American-style
drug courts will aim to rehabilitate addicts instead of jailing them.

People who steal or deal small quantities of drugs may escape jail by
entering a 12-month treatment program.

But people facing charges for sexual offences or offences involving
violence will not be allowed into the program.

District Court Judge Gay Murrell has been appointed the first Drug Court Judge.

She will be assisted by a magistrate and a team of health and legal specialists.

Mr Carr told Parliament yesterday people eligible for the drug court would
have committed non-violent theft including stealing or unarmed robbery that
did not cause physical harm, possession or dealing in small quantities of
drugs or fraud or forgery. They must plead guilty.

Those people accepted for the program, but who committed further crimes or
breached drug guidelines, could be sent to jail or face other sanctions.

"We need, of course, to punish the crime, but we need to tackle the cause,"
Mr Carr said.

Attorney-General Jeff Shaw said about 70 per cent of NSW prison inmates
were there because of a drug related crime.

"If we can get people off heroin and out of the crime cycle, that's
obviously a plus for NSW," he said.

The Drug Courts would save other courts time and reduce the prison
population, he said.

"There will be a strong emphasis on rehabilitation programs and where the
defendant can show that he or she is following a program to get off heroin,
then jail can be avoided," Mr Shaw said. "This is not a soft option - it's
a means of protecting the community."

Mr Shaw said the offender would have to appear before the judge regularly -
as often as every week - to give reports of progress and drug test results.

Mr Shaw said the system also meant a significant shift in the role of
courts with judges required to "case manage" the progress of addicts rather
than hear cases and pass sentences.

Barrister and advocate of the system, Ross Goodridge, said the move meant
as many as 62,000 crimes a year in NSW could be stopped or alleviated by
the Drug Court system - based on research which showed drug addicts
committed about one crime a day.

Salvation Army Commander of Rehabilitation Services, Major Brian Watters,
said: "I constantly meet people who say it's easier to go to jail than it
is to go to rehab because in jail they can just go through the motions
until they come out again."

But Opposition health spokeswoman Jillian Skinner said the trial was a
farce because the Government had already slashed funding for drug treatment
programs.

Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson