Saturday, December 18, 1999

UN drugs agency threatens ban on $160m poppy trade

Phillip and Damien Jones in their poppy field near Hobart ... Australia's

only legal opium poppy industry contributes $160 million to Tasmania's

economy.

Photograph by ROGER LOVELL

By SIMON MANN, Herald Correspondent in London

The international drugs body at the centre of the row over proposed heroin

injecting rooms confirmed yesterday that Australia's $160 million-a-year

legal opiates trade could be put at risk should the trials proceed.

A spokesman for the Vienna-based United Nations agency said Australia could

ultimately face an international embargo of its opiate exports.

However, it would be the first embargo against a signatory to the 1961

convention on narcotic drugs and according to the spokesman the agency

would be "extremely reluctant" to recommend such a penalty.

In the three decades since the convention was ratified (in 1968), the

International Narcotics Control Board has only threatened action against

countries five times. But sanctions were avoided after each country backed

down.

"Ultimately the issue was solved because the pressure was such that the

country did not want to be named at the [UN's] Economic and Social Council

of being in breach of the treaty," the secretary to the board, Mr Herbert

Schaepe, told the Herald.

Germany could also face censure if the Schroder Government proceeds with

plans to legalise injecting rooms. However, the stakes are not as high

because Germany does not export opiates.

Asked whether the board, for this reason, held a bigger stick in its

dealings with Australia, Mr Schaepe replied: "If you want to see it like

this, yes."

Tasmania has Australia's only legal opium poppy and it worth about $160

million to that State's economy. The closely regulated crop is grown by

1,000 farmers for pharmaceuticals and last season covered about 16,000

hectares.

The Prime Minister, Mr Howard, has appealed to Victoria, NSW and the ACT to

put proposed injecting room trials on hold because of the UN agency's advice.

The States have indicated that they may proceed with the trials without the

backing of the Federal Government.

In such circumstances, said Mr Schaepe, Canberra would be obliged to take

action to ensure the convention was observed.

Two other countries - Spain and Luxembourg - are believed to be considering

injecting room trials, while in Switzerland and the Netherlands some rooms

are operating with the blessing of local authorities but without strict

government approval. Denmark is understood to have shelved its plans for

"shooting galleries" after consulting the UN board in March.

Mr Schaepe said the International Narcotics Control Board was particularly

anxious about the "proliferation" of injecting room trials as distinct from

trials involving the supply of heroin to addicts, which have been running

in Switzerland and Holland since 1997.

The latter escape censure because they are being conducted under medical

supervision, although the board remains "extremely sceptical" about the

value of these trials in the international fight against drug abuse.

It also blames the trials for a rash of other heroin experiments which Mr

Schaepe said were spreading "like a virus". "These things immediately find

a lot of imitators, whether the thing makes sense or not."

According to Mr Schaepe, the board's chief objection to injecting rooms is

that they amount to the sanctioning of illicit drug use and represent a

continuing creep towards the legalisation of heroin.

Mr Schaepe said the board understood Australia had a "tremendous problem"

with illicit drug use and the need for remedies but believed injecting

rooms were the "wrong way to go".