Pubdate: Sat, 13 Nov, 1999
Source: Canberra Times (Australia)
Contact:  http://www.canberratimes.com.au/
Author: Peter Watney
Note: Headline by MAPEditor

SAFE-INJECTING FACILITY'S 98% OVERDOSE REDUCTION WARRANTS A TRIAL HERE

BARRY KEARNEY (CT, Letters, November 9) makes three questionable 
propositions: "There is no such thing as a 'safe' injecting house"; "Heroin 
is such a dangerous drug that it is never 'safe' "; and "Persecute the 
traffickers. Let's drive them off the streets and lock them up".

Frankfurt-am-Main has experienced a fall in ambulance emergency call-outs 
from 100 drug overdoses per week to two per week over a four-year period 
since it first established a safe-injecting facility. That improvement 
might not be experienced here, but it does warrant a trial.

Some health professionals in some countries that permit the prescription of 
heroin, whether for heroin maintenance or for the treatment of extreme 
pain, consider heroin safer than morphine. Demonising the drug does not 
make it more dangerous.

The vast majority of traffickers are users who traffic because they cannot 
afford to satisfy their dependence on illicit drugs. The traffickers who do 
not use - those in it for greed - have been offered substances that have a 
very high profit margin.

The more traffickers locked up, the higher will be the margin, the more 
will be the corruption, the more will be the children seduced to fund both 
the dependent users and the greedy entrepreneurs. \

Peter Watney
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