Pubdate: Mon, 08 May 2000 Source: Herald Sun (Australia) Copyright: News Limited 2000 Contact: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ Author: Michael Sedgley Note: Dr Michael Sedgley is Victorian president of the Australian Medical Association. Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n568/a03.htm http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n529/a06.htm TRYING TO SAVE LIVES Victoria has passed a resolution supporting trials of supervised injecting facilities. Such facilities in other countries have not recorded any deaths. This is encouraging information and a good enough basis for testing such facilities in Melbourne. Overdoses do occur in such facilities, but access to emergency treatment means these people's lives are saved. If they had been down an alley or in a park, their chance of survival would not be so great. We need a trial to determine how effective the facilities are. In Germany, overdose rates have been rising -- except in the cities which have injecting rooms, where they have fallen 30 per cent in the past year. In Switzerland, overdose deaths continued to rise after the establishment of one facility in 1986. But when more opened and other harm-minimisation strategies were implemented, the number of deaths halved between 1992 and 1998. We cannot continue to allow our young people to die. We must try a comprehensive approach based on helping people get through addiction with their lives intact. - --- MAP posted-by: Eric Ernst