'SHOOTING GALLERIES' HELP REDUCE CRIME

I FOUND myself amazed that I actually agreed with Michael Moore for once
("Drug-war first for ACT likely", CT, 10 August, p.1).

How do you solve a problem like heroin addiction? Sure, shooting galleries
may not seem like the answer. The fact is they are not; but nobody in this
debate is saying they are. At present they are only part of the best
strategy to help combat this problem. By allowing people to legally "shoot
up" we are reducing crime.

Crimes that help pay the corpulent prices demanded by the drug dealers. The
present system only helps one group, the drug dealers. We have the choice.
Let's fight this war against heroin with real weapons that can make a
difference, not stand behind our picket fences with a water pistol hoping
that the problem goes away.

Peter Smith
Narrabundah

Checked-by: Richard Lake