SUPERVISED DRUG INJECTING ROOM TRIAL CONSIDERED A SUCCESS

An evaluation report into an 18 month trial of Australia's first
medically supervised injecting centre has cleared the way for the
continuation of the $A2.4m (UKP1m; $US1.6m; euros1.4m) a year project.

The 233 page evaluation found that from May 2001 to October 2002, 3810
registered individuals made 56861 visits to the centre. A total of 409
incidents of drug overdose were recorded--including 329 from heroin
and 60 from cocaine--though none were fatal.

The report estimates that at least four lives were saved as a result
of the proximity of users to medical staff. The report was prepared by
the evaluation committee headed by John Kaldor, professor of
epidemiology and deputy director of the national centre of HIV
epidemiology at the University of New South Wales.

The establishment of a supervised injecting centre followed a drug
summit in May 1999 hosted by the New South Wales government. The
summit canvassed options for reducing the impact of drugs on society
and users. After a protracted debate--and an unsuccessful legal
challenge from the local business community--the centre opened in May
2001 (BMJ 2001;323:532) in Kings Cross, a district in inner city
Sydney long associated with gambling, prostitution, and drugs.

The government approved the trial in the hope that it may "decrease
overdose deaths, provide a gateway to treatment, reduce the problem of
discarded needles and users injecting in public places."

The evaluation found that the injecting centre made 1385 referrals to
drug treatment services "especially amongst frequent attenders" and
that there was no negative effect on the community nor any evidence of
an increase in crime. Support for the centre among local residents
rose from 68% to 78% during the trial period.

Launching the report, the special minister of state for New South
Wales, John Della Bosca, backed the continuation of the centre beyond
its legislated end date of 30 October 2003. "The centre did save
lives; there was no 'honey pot' effect detected, no increase in crime
or drug related loitering in the Kings Cross precinct," he said.

Draft legislation will be introduced in September to make the
injecting rooms permanent. The New South Wales branch of the Green
party--one of the parties holding the balance of power in the upper
house--are advocating that centres be established outside Sydney.

The report has not persuaded the Australian prime minister, John
Howard. "I've never supported heroin trials and I've never supported
heroin injecting rooms, and this government never will," he said.

The Australian Capital Territory's government has indicated that it
too will now consider establishing a medically supervised injecting
room.

The Sydney trial is one of only 59 equivalent drug consumption centres
operating in 33 cities in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and
Spain.

Final Report of the Evaluation of the Sydney Medically Supervised
Injecting Centre is available at
http://druginfo.nsw.gov.au/druginfo/reports/msic.pdf