INJECTING CENTRE SUCCESS

Editor - Contrary to Debra J. Saunders' assertion ("Placid in needle
park," Sept. 2), the news regarding Australia's Medically Supervised
Injecting Centre in Sydney is very good indeed. In June this year, the
state minister for health said: "The findings of independent
evaluations clearly show that the centre is having an impact in
reaching a group of marginalized, long-term injecting drug users who
have not previously sought or successfully completed drug treatment.
The centre is keeping people alive and increasingly getting them into
treatment." Legislation was subsequently passed by the state's
Parliament to extend the injecting centre's operating license until
late 2011.

Dr. INGRID van BEEK

Medical Director, Sydney Medically Supervised Injecting Centre

Sydney, Australia