National
Party
of
Western
Australia
to
Debate
Heroin
Maintenance
8/07/98
The National Party of Western Australia is debating whether to include heroin maintenance trials as part of its drug policy platform, at the party's annual conference this weekend, according to The Australian this week. Earlier this year the party's State Council endorsed steps toward the decriminalization of marijuana, calling for first and second-time users to be issued infringement notices rather than taken to court. Paul Clune, a party member and sponsor of the resolution, said the heroin trial would be based on the Swiss program, which has led to dramatic reductions in drug-related crime. Last year's National Party conference rejected a resolution that supported the Australian Capital Territory heroin trials, with opposition to the trials led by party leader and Deputy Premier Hendy Cowan. Premier Richard Court is opposing the trials, saying ""I am certainly very opposed to pumping more heroin into the system," and is also opposed to any liberalization of the marijuana laws. Opposition Leader Geoff Gallop countered that "It is pretty clear that the current system is not working and advice to that effect is coming consistently from our police officers, including the commissioner," he said. PERMISSION to reprint or redistribute any or all of the contents of Drug War Chronicle (formerly The Week Online with DRCNet is hereby granted. We ask that any use of these materials include proper credit and, where appropriate, a link to one or more of our web sites. If your publication customarily pays for publication, DRCNet requests checks payable to the organization. If your publication does not pay for materials, you are free to use the materials gratis. In all cases, we request notification for our records, including physical copies where material has appeared in print. Contact: StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network, P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 293-8340 (voice), (202) 293-8344 (fax), e-mail drcnet@drcnet.org. Thank you. Articles of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of the DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
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