Pubdate: Tue, 21 Aug 2001
Source: West Australian (Australia)
Copyright: 2001 West Australian Newspapers Limited
Contact:  http://www.thewest.com.au
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/495
Author: Sally Allen

SAY NO TO INJECTING ROOMS

SO NOW there is a possibility of safe injecting rooms here in WA. Why not 
attach them to the Next Step Clinic so that they can also top up with the 
free Methadone program?

How are we ever going to have any credibility with the schoolchildren we 
are teaching to say "no" to drugs when they view addicts taking an illegal 
substance into a government-funded safe injecting room?

Who will be responsible if the addict overdoses? Who will take 
responsibility for the deeds that they will have to perform to provide 
their next hit?

The safe injecting rooms at Kings Cross are already $3 million in debt and 
they have been operating only since May 6. Can we afford to prop up a 
system like this when funds are desperately required for our hospitals?

Surely the answer is to rehabilitate the drug users and get them back into 
the workforce so that they can become valuable members of society again.

SALLY ALLEN, Quinns Rocks.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom