Vic: Injecting rooms send wrong message: Nationals

AAP General News (Australia)
08-01-2000
Vic: Injecting rooms send wrong message: Nationals

The National Party will vote against heroin injecting rooms in Victoria, calling instead
for bolstered treatment and a special prison for drug offenders.

Its statement of opposition today was widely expected, but it was still greeted with
disappointment by the government, which accused the party of having a closed mind.

Nationals leader PETER RYAN says supervised injecting rooms will send the wrong message
to young people that drug use is OK.

He says more work needs to be done in education, rehabilitation, detoxification and
diversion programs already under way in some Melbourne suburbs.

But Mr RYAN is also proposing a purpose-built prison for drug offenders, which he says
make up 60 per cent of the state's prison population.

But the government has always concentrated its efforts on persuading the Liberals to
back its enabling legislation, which will be debated in the next few months.

The Nationals have been largely irrelevant, since their numbers are insufficient in
the upper house to have an impact on the government's enabling bill without Liberal support.

But the government has still savaged their decision, with Health Minister JOHN THWAITES
accusing Mr RYAN of offering no solution beyond locking up addicts.

AAP RTV pjb/er/gp/jn

KEYWORD: INJECT (MELBOURNE)

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