Reprinted from "Injecting room like Asian Opium Den", The Age Australia, Feb 26.

Sydney's heroin injecting room has been compared to an Asian opium den by an international drugs control body campaigning for its closure.

The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) has condemned the NSW government for promoting illegal drugs in the inner-city Kings Cross injecting room.

"To provide a venue for an illegal activity is a shot for drug traffickers and is against all international convention," said board member Professor Hamid Ghodse, speaking as the INCB's annual report was released today.

"We are very saddened the government provides a venue for illegal drugs. It's similar to the opium dens of the early 20th century.

"It's odd that we closed the opium dens and now we have injecting rooms."

Ghodse said the INCB would continue to negotiate with Australian authorities and the NSW government to try to close the room in Darlinghurst Road "as soon as possible to come into line with international convention".

The INCB is an independent body set up to promote government compliance with United Nations drug conventions.

The Sydney injecting room was scheduled to close following an 18 month trial last October but the NSW government voted to extend the scheme an extra 12 months after it had attracted 30,000 visits in its first year.

But Ghodse, a former INCB president who is also professor of addictive behaviour at the University of London, rejected claims that the vote to keep the room open proved it had been a success.

"It is illegal. If you decriminalise crime, then there is no crime and no prisons. Can you say it is a success because there's no prisons?" he said.

"An injection room is the lowest level of service. Rich countries should provide good medical service and support."

Similar rooms operate in Germany, Holland, Switzerland and Spain.

The INCB report also said the number of heroin related deaths in Australia had dropped but Ghodse said the board was not convinced that was linked to the injecting room.

He said the availability of heroin had been considerably reduced after police dismantled several trafficking rings from south-east Asia, including one which smuggled a large consignment to Brisbane from China in March 2002.

According to the report, Sydney remained the focal point for heroin distribution in Australia while cocaine abuse was also most prevalent in NSW.

The board reported on the seizure of more than 300,000 ecstasy tablets also last March year following a multinational operation involving Europe, Canada, the United States and Australia.

It expressed its concerns over trafficking rings using Pacific islands as staging posts and for money laundering and commended Australia's agreement with Vanuatu in which the two countries exchange financial intelligence.

The INCB said it was worried by the lack of drug control in Papua New Guinea and appreciated Australia and New Zealand's continued support of their Pacific neighbours in drug law enforcement.