Pubdate: Fri, 21 May 1999 Source: Illawarra Mercury (Australia) Copyright: Illawarra Newspapers Contact: http://mercury.illnews.com.au/ NSW MOVES TOWARDS SHOOTING GALLERIES NSW came closer to becoming the first state in the country to trial legal shooting galleries when Premier Bob Carr last night gave his strongest support for the proposal yet. Delegates at a drug summit last night voted in favour of a resolution that says the NSW Government should not veto proposals for trialling safe injecting rooms from non-government organisations. Mr Carr, a long-time opponent to shooting galleries, was a surprise supporter when he told the NSW drug summit he wanted the Government to examine a plan to allow the facilities to be established by non-government organisations. ``This is a matter that's got to be faced up to,'' Mr Carr told the summit. ``If there are activities taking place in the parks and in the back lanes that the community wants to deal with in a better fashion then we'll explore the option you've put to us for dealing with it in a better fashion.'' Two years ago the Premier refused to accept shooting galleries when the Wood Royal Commission into police corruption suggested their establishment. Mr Carr's younger brother Gregory died of a heroin overdose in the early 1980s aged 28 after lying comatose in a hospice for almost a year. He said the last thing his government would do was make a decision that would make the situation worse for children on the streets. The final resolution was slightly different to a preliminary proposal agreed to by Attorney-General Jeff Shaw earlier this week where the Health Department would have operated the facilities. Opposition Leader Kerry Chikarovski voted against the resolution. ``I am still not persuaded that injecting rooms are in fact an appropriate response to what we are doing with drugs,'' Mrs Chikarovski said. Debate is continuing on other controversial proposals, including heroin trials. Earlier, former Royal Commissioner James Wood repeated his call for legal heroin shooting galleries but stopped short of backing a heroin trial. Justice Wood, now the head of the Supreme Court's Common Law Division, told the summit the system for dealing with addicted criminals was inadequate. Addicts appeared before the courts with monotonous regularity, he said. ``We can continue on our path of destruction of individuals and families and a waste of economic resources or we can seriously consider the options that are available to us today,'' Justice Wood said. Justice Wood's strategy involved strong law enforcement against drug suppliers, rehabilitation for addicts and keeping young offenders and first-time minor drug offenders out of jail. He did not call for a heroin trial but said all rehabilitation and detoxification options should be trialled. - --- MAP posted-by: Ken Russell