GOVT OPTS FOR TREATMENT RATHER THAN LEGAL HEROIN TRIALS

The New South Wales Government says it will keep focusing on treatment for
drug addicts instead of adopting legal heroin prescription trials.

A public forum on drugs held in Sydney last night heard a call from the
Director of Public Prosecutions, Nicholas Cowdery, for the controlled
legalisation of heroin.

But the Special Minister For State, John Della Bosca, says the Government
ruled the idea out at the drug summit in the late 1990s and its position
has not changed.

"I think the most important thing for the New South Wales Government to
focus on - we persuaded the Commonwealth Government to increase their focus
on it - is getting a larger number of people who abuse and use drugs into
treatment," he said.

"And that applies whether they're people out in the community or whether
they're people who are in correctional facilities or already in the crime
drug cycle."