Pubdate: Fri, 21 May 1999 Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) Contact: http://www.smh.com.au/ Author: Julia Baird COALITION MPS DIVIDED OVER REFORMS Coalition MPs were divided yesterday over liberalising drug laws, as NSW MP John Ryan and Senator Marise Payne spoke in favour of injecting rooms, while State front-bencher Peter Debnam took a hard line against any loosening of a prohibition stance. Mr Ryan said he believed, as a Christian, "it is important to give drug addicts the opportunity to be saved". He argued shooting galleries were a natural extension of the needle exchange program. "If we're able to give needles to drug addicts on a no-questions-asked basis, it's not a great step to give them space to carry out their deadly habit in a position which might stop them dying," he said. Kevin Rozzoli is the only other State Liberal MP to have backed injecting rooms. The Federal Labor MP for Sydney, Ms Tanya Plibersek, said fatal overdoses in Frankfurt, Germany, fell from 141 to 22 after a heroin safe injecting room was opened there in 1997. "I don't think we can afford to ignore those types of figures," she said. Senator Payne went one step further and said she also supported a heroin trial. "For some, the law reform that's necessary to support (heroin) trials or the so-called self-injecting rooms and the decriminalisation of self-administration (injecting) may be the only thing that saves their lives," she said. Mr Debnam disagreed. "We need the courage to say no to decriminalisation, no to shooting galleries, no to heroin trials and no to reduced penalties for any drug offence," he said. He insisted abstinence and personal responsibility were paramount, along with family values. Mr Debnam was critical of the way the conference was conducted, and argued it had been manipulated from the outset. Entertainer and anti-drugs activist Normie Rowe, whose daughter has been addicted to heroin, also said the summit was being run with a harm minimisation agenda. The seven youth delegates to the summit were among advocates for the more radical proposals, joining in a call for free heroin trials, safe injecting rooms and decriminalisation of possession of marijuana for personal use. Mr Troy Bramston, from the Premier's Youth Advisory Council, said: "I urge delegates at this summit to move out of your entrenched positions to consider new solutions - but this requires leadership." - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea