Pubdate: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 Source: The Age (Australia) Contact: Website: http://www.theage.com.au Author: Karen Lyon PENINGTON BACKS CALL FOR DRUG SOLUTION One of Australia's leading drug experts, Professor David Penington, has backed calls for a heroin trial in Melbourne. Professor Penington said drug reform was a "step by step" process and a trial where long-term drug addicts would have legal access to heroin should be the first step. Prohibition had not worked because society had been unable to reduce the supply and demand for illicit drugs, he said. Yesterday in The Sunday Age, the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Cr Ivan Deveson, called for widespread reform on the drug issue and said he would welcome the establishment of a heroin trial in the city as a way of reducing the growing number of deaths from heroin overdose. Professor Penington, who headed the Premier's Drug Advisory Council in 1996, has also been advising other lord mayors as they try to combat the growing drug trade. Cr Deveson said the city was close to a decision on safe injecting rooms for heroin users. But Professor Penington said the proposal could not be considered while the use of heroin was illegal. If injecting rooms were introduced, they should be set up as an extension of the current needle exchange programs, he said. Professor Penington applauded the State Government for last week's trial introduction of four new drugs to help users beat heroin addiction. One trial will compare two drugs, LAAM and buprenorphine, as maintenance treatment in 522 users, against methadone in 522 users. Another maintenance treatment trial will involve 40 people taking slow-release oral morphine. In the third trial, 250 addicts will take buprenorphine as a withdrawal treatment. In the fourth, 100 former users taking naltrexone to prevent relapse will be compared with 100 people taking dummy pills. - --- Checked-by: Melodi Cornett