Pubdate: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 Source: Illawarra Mercury (Australia) Copyright: 2000 Illawarra Newspapers Contact: http://mercury.illnews.com.au/ UN BACKS PM'S HEROIN STANCE Prime Minister John Howard's stance against heroin shooting galleries has been backed by UN experts. The International Narcotics Control Board warned governments yesterday that they risk breaking international law by approving drug injection centres. The board said such drug injection rooms "facilitated" drug trafficking and represented the first step towards legalising narcotics altogether. "By permitting injection rooms, a government could be considered to be in contravention of the international drug control conventions," the Vienna-based board said. Late last year, Mr Howard wrote to NSW Premier Bob Carr demanding the state's safe injecting room be put on hold because of possible breaches of Australia's international obligations. A spokesman for Mr Howard said the Federal Government's view had not changed. "Mr Howard's objections to drug injection rooms are well known and quite independent of the views expressed by the United Nation's International Narcotics Control Board," the spokesman said. The board noted that drug conventions were created decades ago precisely to eliminate the injection rooms of their time: opium dens. The board is a 13-member, quasi-judicial organisation, which oversees implementation of UN drug treaties. In its annual report, board members also called for greater access by poorer nations to pain killers, which are often too expensive to buy in countries struggling with more basic medical problems, such as malnutrition.