POLICE ACCUSED OF DRUG TARGETING

ORGANISERS of a major drug forum have accused the police of targeting
grieving young people after arrests following the funeral of a heroin addict.

It also was revealed yesterday that a heroin addict who spoke at the forum,
at State Parliament last Tuesday, was arrested within 24 hours of making
his address.

At the Voice Day forum, police claimed they did not mark small-time drug
users.

Pat Assheton, founder of DrugAid which co-ordinated the forum, accused
police of "backlash" after the arrest of "Morgan", who was charged over a
civil matter and released on bail after paying $700 in outstanding fines.

She said two people who attended the funeral of Brisbane girl Shay
Bressington on Wednesday had been charged with trafficking in heroin over
an eight-month period.

"They (police) said they knew I was at the funeral and also told me I was
floating very close to the wind and I could find myself locked up. I
thought 'my God, what a strange thing to say'," Ms Assheton said.

"Why suddenly have we had three arrests that we know of since Voice Day?

"Leave them alone. They are in deep grief ... It is the first time I've
seen this (number of arrests) happen."

The latest charges involve Brisbane-based international catwalk model Tovah
Cottle and her long-time boyfriend Brett Edwin Milton.

Both Cottle and Milton, a 21-year-old part-time interpreter for the deaf,
appeared in Brisbane Magistrates Court last Friday facing six counts
including one of trafficking in heroin, possession of heroin and possession
of money and various items used in the commission of an offence.

They have not entered pleas and were allowed bail, on a surety of $20,000
and $30,000 respectively, and remanded to appear for committal mention on
November 2.

"They are soft targets, so why were these soft targets made an example of?"
Ms Assheton asked.

Queensland Police Drug and Alcohol co-ordinator Inspector Peter Martin, who
spoke at the forum, said he was unable to confirm or deny the allegations.

"One of the biggest changes in policing has been over recent years police
are more concerned with those that traffic and supply illicit drugs. Police
officers do not chase ambulances or respond to drug-related overdoses," he
said. "They actually want people to report overdoses. The law is written in
such a way that people who use an illicit drug are not necessarily
committing an offence.

"(But) People who are using drugs or supplying or trafficking drugs ...
sooner or later that will come to the attention of the police."

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski