Pubdate: Mon, 13 Mar 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: David Humphries And Michelle Grattan TREATMENT PLUS BAIL FOR DRUG OFFENDERS Offenders may be ordered to undergo drug or alcohol rehabilitation as part of their bail conditions, under drug laws that came into effect in NSW on Friday. Gazettal of the Drug Summit Legislative Response Act also means sniffer dogs will be allowed into children's detention centres and police powers have been boosted to shut down "shooting galleries". Police options will be expanded in dealing with children caught possessing small drug quantities and the way is now clear for a medically supervised injecting room at Kings Cross. The Special Minister of State, Mr Della Bosca, said yesterday the compulsory treatment prerequisite for bail would apply only to offenders who would have been granted it anyway. "We want people with drug and alcohol problems to get into treatment sooner, rather than waiting for trial and sentencing," Mr Della Bosca said. Drug treatment funding over the next four years had increased by $93 million to cope with an anticipated extra workload of 23,450 clients, he said. Meanwhile, the Federal Opposition today will introduce private member's legislation that would allow assets to be confiscated if on the "balance of probabilities" they had been acquired as the result of serious criminal activity. At present confiscation of assets cannot be made without a conviction. The new regime would be under civil law and would mean that criminals could lose the fruits of their crimes even though there might never be sufficient evidence for a successful prosecution. The Opposition justice spokesman, Mr Duncan Kerr, will introduce a package of measures that will also make it easier for the National Crime Authority to obtain information, but at the same time put an independent check on the NCA. There would be harsher penalties on those who refused to give information to the NCA. People would have to give evidence even if it incriminated them, although it could not be used subsequently against them. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake