Pubdate: Wed, 02 Feb 2000 Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) Copyright: 2000 The Sydney Morning Herald Contact: GPO Box 3771, Sydney NSW 2001 Fax: +61-(0)2-9282 3492 Website: http://www.smh.com.au/ Forum: http://forums.fairfax.com.au/ Author: Paola Totaro DECISION CLOSE ON INJECTING ROOM SITE An unused pinball parlour on Darlinghurst Road, Kings Cross, is likely to become the site of Australia's first legal heroin injecting room. It is understood 66 Darlinghurst Road is leased to Greater Union Theatres under a 10-year contract believed to be worth more than $300,000 a year. However, the building proved unsuitable for a pinball business and remains vacant, with the Uniting Church finalising negotiations to sub-lease the site for an unspecified but smaller rental. The owner of the building, a Sydney businessman with wider property interests in the area, is understood to have passed police probity checks, although he has not yet agreed formally to the sub-lease proposal. The Herald has been told the site fulfils strict criteria set down by the State Government to regulate the injecting room trial, including ground-level entry, easy ambulance access, an area covering between 150 and 200 square metres and proximity to Springfield Mall. The criteria also state the site must have the support of all major parties affected by the trial, including local residents, nearby businesses and the police. It is understood the Uniting Church is confident it can open the doors of the new legal injecting room by June despite delays in finding a site supported by all parties and gaining the Police Commissioner's imprimatur. The projected operating budget for the trial is also believed to have increased in the wake of delays, rising from about $800,000 for the one-year trial originally quoted by the Sisters of Charity to more than $1.2 million. But a push to find staff has been successful, with advertisements for key personnel, including a medical director, general manager and nursing staff, attracting a strong and supportive response. The old pinball site will need to undergo some structural, internal works if it is chosen to host the trial, as space for a health and counselling section has to be designed and incorporated, along with extra facilities such as downstairs toilets and sinks. The State Government appears firm in its decision to continue with the ground-breaking experiment despite a call from the Prime Minister, Mr Howard, last year that Australia may be in breach of international United Nations narcotics conventions if NSW proceeds. In Melbourne, the fledgling Labor Government is in the unusual position of having a site ready and equipped to begin an injecting room trial but no legislation to legalise it. The Government faces a struggle to gain the approval of three conservative Independent MPs who hold the balance of power and the backing of the Upper House, which is dominated by Coalition MPs. The Sydney building was not one of three Kings Cross sites, short-listed from 10, that were recommended by the special committee appointed to explore suitable sites for the safe injecting room experiment. This original list favoured 95 Macleay Street, Potts Point, which Sydneysiders knew for two decades as La Strada, one of the city's most famous Italian restaurants. The building was owned by Mrs Giovanna Toppi, the matriarch of the establishment CBD lunch spot Macchiavelli's. Mrs Toppi also owns the building in nearby Tusculum Street in which one of Sydney's best-known brothels runs Tudor Court, a business that operates with full council approval. The other sites identified as potentially suitable were a terrace at 159 Brougham Street and a former self-service laundry in Orwell Street. - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck