Pubdate: Fri, 07 Jul 2000 Source: Canberra Times (Australia) Copyright: 2000 Canberra Times Contact: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/ Author: J. L. Smith RESPONSE TEAMS NEED RESOURCES If A.C.T. HEALTH Minister Michael Moore is sincere in his statement that ''Heroin users who could have been saved by Canberra's supervised injecting room would die" (CT, July 5, p.1) then he must apply the related resources of his department towards appropriate medical response teams, both now and in the future. This action would save as many lives as the proposed injecting room would have, and it would have the support of a wide cross-section of the community. By ditching the drug injection room concept, we avoid a form of community tolerance of drug abuse that undermines the genuine drug avoidance and rehabilitation programs. In addition, we are not deterring addicts from seeking bona fide rehabilitation, by offering ''smoke and mirrors". We have avoided our responsibilities through family, school and community on the matter of drug abuse (both soft and hard) for so long now, that tragedies are inevitable. Thank you, Michael Osborne and Dave Rugendyke, for making us face the reality of drug abuse and rehabilitation. J.L. Smith Farrer - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager