OSWALDIANS' DRUG STUDY CHILDISH: AFP CHIEF

Australian Federal Police Commander Ben McDevitt has described as "childish" a 10-year study into the drug habits of a group calling itself the Oswaldians, which concluded that recreational users were not immune to addiction.

Research revealed in yesterday's The Canberra Times found that the 40-strong group, which had classified itself as above addiction, was as susceptible to addictive drugs as the rest of the drug-taking community.  Commander McDevitt said, "I can say that the Oswaldians sound like just another bunch of impressionable people who take to drugs as a crutch.

"I would have thought that a decade of research efforts would have come up with more substantial findings.  Any well-educated child could tell you that there is no such thing as recreational use of heroin, which is a highly addictive and dangerous drug.

"I would be interested to know who was in charge of quality control for this so-called experiment."

Commander McDevitt's comments place the AFP in direct conflict with ACT Health Minister Michael Moore, who has been a strong supporter of the study.

In 1995, Mr Moore was the author of a Bill that meant information collected by PhD student Phyll Dance on the group would not be admissible in court proceedings.  The Bill was introduced around the time of the proposed prescription heroin trial, and would have protected the information collected during that trial if it had gone ahead.  Mr Moore said research projects like the one completed by Dr Dance, and clinical trials were crucial to boost scientific knowledge into illegal drugs.  If they were not protected, illegal drug takers would not participate.

Commander McDevitt said he was not aware of any police investigation into heroin use by the Oswaldians.

However, "Any group so devoted to illegal drugs is a group which inevitably comes to police attention, and I have no doubt that if the Oswaldians put their hand up, a number of them would not be strangers to ACT policing."