NEW PLEA FOR DRUGS TRIAL

ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope will petition the Prime Minister today to
make heroin available on prescription.

The move is likely to reignite debate on heroin trials despite Prime
Minister John Howard's opposition to heroin prescriptions or injecting rooms.

Mr Stanhope said yesterday a heroin trial was a "potentially life-saving"
option for users and could be the only way to undermine the heroin black
market.

Mr Stanhope said he would write today to Mr Howard, all state leaders and
health ministers proposing a jointly funded national heroin trial involving
the ACT.

"As a society we owe it to our young people and to all involved with
illicit drugs to search for new and more effective treatments," Mr Stanhope
told The Canberra Times.

"We need to be open to innovative approaches to help with Australia's drug
problem, and there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the use of
prescription heroin for some people is worth a try."

Mr Stanhope said the ACT had done considerable groundwork for a heroin
trial and could play a key role in taking the issue forward.

"I am aiming for a national jointly funded approach with at least two
jurisdictions, one of which would be the ACT, undertaking the trial," he said.

A heroin trial had potential advantages for illicit drug users and the
wider community. It could help drug users who failed to find value in other
treatments, and attract people into treatment.

A heroin prescription trial could also provide an easier drug from which to
withdraw, for users who wished to become drug-free, and an opportunity for
clinical investigations on heroin's use and effects on respiration which
could help combat overdoses.

Mr Stanhope said the heroin trial could also potentially reduce crime and
improve community safety.

"In addition to possible medical and treatment advantages, a heroin trial
is the only policy option with the potential to undermine the black market
trade of heroin," he said.

He hoped his state and territory colleagues would support the plan, and the
Prime Minister would show national leadership on the issue.

"A joint approach to this issue is the most appropriate, and I have called
on the Prime Minister and my colleagues to cooperate in exploring this
potentially life-saving health-care option," he said.

Mr Howard's stance during the federal election was "we will oppose and give
no aid and comfort of any kind to either a heroin trial or heroin injecting
rooms".

In March, NSW Special Minister of State John Della Bosca said the state
Government had ruled out a heroin trial and had no plans to revisit the issue.

It came after NSW Director of Public Prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery, QC,
backed calls for a trial, saying it would suit "heroin addicts who are
badly addicted and who are having difficulty ceasing heroin use or even
reducing it".