[Greens-Media] Increased sniffer dog powers threaten supervised injecting centre

[David Shoebridge MLC]

Increased sniffer dog powers threaten supervised injecting centre
*Media Release - 20 October 2012*

The O'Farrell government's proposed expansion of police sniffer dogs to
cover the whole of Kings Cross will very likely have the side effect of
shutting down the supervised injecting centre.

See reporting today:
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/fear-drug-dogs-will-drive-users-from-injecting-centre-20121019-27wnj.html

Greens MP and Justice spokesperson David Shoebridge said:

"This law has the real potential to be used as an under-handed way to shut
the centre.

"By definition many of the clients of the centre will be carrying illegal
drugs and this means the targeted use of police dogs could effectively shut
it down.

"Putting sniffer dogs outside the supervised injecting centre will mean
targeting most of the people who use the centre.

"The supervised injecting centre has proved to have a positive impact on
the health and safety of users and this cynical exercise should not
threaten its existence.

"The injecting centre is an example of good evidence based policy that
saves lives, by contrast police sniffer dogs are error prone and
ineffective at catching drug dealers.

"The proposed Greens' amendment to the legislation is a modest but rational
way to protect the centre and allow it to continue to do its life saving
work," Mr Shoebridge said.

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Media Contact: 0408 113 952

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David Shoebridge

Greens MP in the NSW Legislative Council

P: (02) 0408 113 952|Media: 0433 753 376|T:
@ShoebridgeMLC<http://twitter.com/#%21/shoebridgemlc>

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