Pubdate: Tue, 18 May 1999 Source: Illawarra Mercury (Australia) Copyright: Illawarra Newspapers Contact: http://mercury.illnews.com.au/ USERS PAST REAL HELP - SOURIS Reformers claimed NSW National Party Leader George Souris had scuppered the state drug summit yesterday by ruling out any change to drug laws and labelling heroin addicts ``beyond help''. Police Commissioner Peter Ryan also admitted that authorities were failing to stem the tide of heroin entering the country. Premier Bob Carr and Liberal Leader Kerry Chikarovski stressed they entered the summit with open minds, but Mr Souris said in his opening address he was against heroin shooting galleries, allowing addicts to legally inject and decriminalising cannabis. ``All of these measures represent surrender to the problem,'' Mr Souris said. He told an audience of former addicts, academics and politicians that ``many chronically addicted heroin users are probably beyond any meaningful assistance''. ``My concern is for those who can still be helped,'' he said, calling for more resources to keep children off drugs. Drug reform campaigner Tony Trimingham accused the Coalition of approaching the summit with a closed mind. ``It's very unlikely that we'll get anything reasonable out of this week because of the Coalition and their attitude towards the summit,'' he said. ``Their attitude is close-minded ... not prepared to countenance anything that isn't an increase in the law-and-order mechanisms.'' Greens MLC Ian Cohen said he was disappointed with Mr Souris' comments but he still hoped common ground could be found for reform. Mr Ryan told the summit that drugs were more than a law enforcement problem and policing alone would not solve it. He pointed out that police seized more than 700kg of heroin in 1997/98. ``That had no effect whatsoever on the purity or street value of heroin at all, so it gives you some indication of the volume that's coming into the country,'' he said. Mr Ryan called for tighter controls on methadone programs and needle exchanges which could have a ``honeypot'' effect in areas where they were set up. ``Crime tends to increase, drug dealers prey on addicts, businesses close down; there's a general degradation of the social fabric in the area which begins to fall into dereliction,'' he said. NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research director Don Weatherburn said prohibiting drugs such as heroin increased crime, police corruption and organised crime. But he said legalising heroin would be a Pyrrhic victory because it would reduce the wider harm to society but increase the damage to individuals. - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck