Pubdate: Thu, 13 Jul 2000 Source: Courier-Mail, The (Australia) Copyright: 2000 News Limited Contact: GPO Box 130, Brisbane Queensland 4001 Fax: (07) 3666 6696 Website: http://www.thecouriermail.com.au/ Author: Michael Callanan Note: Headline supplied by newshawk TOO MANY LIVES AT STAKE IT might be tempting to admire the zeal of Mark Le Grand's crusade against heroin if there were not so many lives at stake (Inside Mail, July 8). His astonishing assertion that 1000 deaths annually from heroin overdoses do "not represent a failure of regulation" might seem heartless until one realises that, for those wedded to prohibition, there may be no limit to the tolerable social cost of enforcing current policies. Le Grand says it's a myth that enforcement inflates the price of drugs, encourages contamination, maintains criminal activity and engenders official corruption. I challenge him to prove this or even explain how it could possibly be the case. His belief is not shared by most people in law enforcement. The trialling of safe injecting rooms does not mean giving heroin to anyone who wants it but Le Grand disingenuously fails to draw the distinction. Michael Callanan, Toowong - --- MAP posted-by: Derek