Pubdate: Tue, 27 Mar 2001
Source: Age, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2001 The Age Company Ltd
Contact:  250 Spencer Street, Melbourne, 3000, Australia
Website: http://www.theage.com.au/
Forum: http://forums.f2.com.au/login/login.asp?board=TheAge-Talkback
Author: Darren Gray
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Safe Injecting Rooms)

NO INJECTING ROOMS OR HEROIN TRIALS: PM

Prime Minister John Howard yesterday repeated his opposition to safe 
injecting rooms and prescription heroin trials as the government's $27.5 
million anti-drugs blitz kicked into gear.

Mr Howard said Australia needed a balanced response to the drugs problem 
that involved education, crime prevention, law enforcement and rehabilitation.

"The reason why I'm against heroin injecting rooms and heroin trials is 
they give a degree of advance ... they imply an acceptance of something 
that can have that devastating result," he said.

Mr Howard said most of the Australian public did not support safe injecting 
rooms and heroin trials. Nor did the two controversial measures - which 
have to date been vigorously opposed by the Howard Government - have the 
backing of most drug experts, he said.

In a vigorous interview with youth radio station Triple J, Mr Howard said 
it was crucial that young people be kept alive. "One way is to communicate 
to people from the very beginning the folly, the stupidity and the tragedy 
of starting drug-taking in the first place. That would be far more 
effective in keeping people alive than heroin injecting rooms," he said.

The Federal Opposition has said that if it wins government it would assist 
states who put up proposals to establish safe injecting rooms and heroin 
trials.

Meanwhile, the first of about eight million information booklets, to be 
sent to every Australian household, are expected to arrive in letter boxes 
today. The booklet urges parents to discuss drugs openly with their 
children and features a foreword written by Mr Howard.

One section of the booklet is devoted to informing parents of the tell-tale 
signs of drug use by teenagers. Parents should also be on the lookout for 
mood swings, changes in eating patterns and a tendency for a teenager to 
withdraw from the family, it says. 
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