Pubdate: Mon, 3 May 1999 Source: Reuters Copyright: 1999 Reuters Limited. AUSTRALIANS PLAN CHURCH HEROIN INJECTING ROOM SYDNEY - Australian church leaders and health experts plan to open an illegal heroin injecting room in a Sydney church where "church sanctuary'' can be invoked against prosecution, a drugs campaigner said Monday. The experimental center, dubbed a "Tolerance Room'' or the ''T-Room,'' is in defiance of Prime Minister John Howard's ''zero tolerance'' drug policy. The room is designed to offer addicts a safe environment to inject heroin using clean equipment and under medical supervision. "The whole point about this is to save people's lives,'' said activist Tony Trimmingham, whose son died of a heroin overdose. There are no legal heroin "shooting galleries'' in Australia. Many are believed to operate clandestinely but are linked to the drug trade. The "T-Room'' center would be opened for four weeks in an unidentified church to enable supporters to claim church sanctuary and supposedly avoid arrest or prosecution, said Trimmingham. He described the plan as an act of civil disobedience. The Sydney injecting room would be opened to coincide with a New South Wales state drugs summit in two weeks but Trimmingham refused to detail exactly where and when it would open. Under state law, aiding the self-administration of an illegal drug carries a penalty of two years jail, a A$2,200 (US$1,452) fine, or both. New South Wales Attorney-General Jeff Shaw told reporters he could not comment on whether the group would be prosecuted. But Howard rejected the heroin "shooting gallery,'' saying it was an easy attempt to gain publicity for the plight of drug addicts rather than offering any real solutions. Australia's toll from heroin overdoses has soared from 70 in 1979 to 600 in 1997, according to the latest figures available from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Center. Switzerland made heroin available under medical supervision in 1995. - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck