Pubdate: Sat, 24 Nov 2001
Source: Australian, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2001 News Limited {YEAR}
Contact:  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/35
Author: Richard Yallop

LEFT HIGH AND DRY

The War On Heroin Has Led To Fewer Junkies Dying On The Streets But, 
Richard Yallop Reports, Many Are Losing Their Minds And Limbs Instead

MAY is one of the new casualties in the drugs war, which has moved fronts 
since heroin users stopped dying daily in city alleyways. When the heroin 
drought struck last December and the pure form of the drug all but 
disappeared from Australia's streets, May's desperation to curb her 
withdrawal symptoms drove her to start injecting Temazepam gel capsules -- 
Australia's favourite sleeping potion. Aged 17, she lies in a Melbourne 
hospital today, at risk of losing her legs.

One side effect of injecting Temazepam is that the coating in which the 
drug is contained can clog up the arteries, stopping circulation to limbs. 
Gangrene can set in, leading to amputation. Between January and August this 
year 537 Victorian pharmacies were broken into and in many cases thieves 
just took Temazepam gel capsules.

In Sydney, another drug front has opened against cocaine -- not just social 
sniffing by the rich and famous but injecting by hard-core addicts seeking 
an alternative fix to heroin.

Increasingly, throughout Australia, amphetamines are filling the heroin 
vacuum. While heroin tends to depress users, stimulants such as cocaine and 
amphetamines can make them violent and paranoid. Says Gordian Fulde, 
director of the emergency department at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital: 
``We're seeing more and more amphetamine injectors being brought in the 
backs of police vans, swinging and swearing, and it's awful.''

The switch to other illicit drugs that resulted from Australia's heroin 
drought will be the subject of a national report by the Illicit Drug 
Reporting System published next week. It will show that, although the 
shortage has produced a drop-off in heroin use and a marked fall in the 
number of overdose deaths, it has also resulted in desperate heroin users 
turning to cocaine, amphetamines and benzodiazepines, the group of 
sedatives that includes Temazepam and valium. It is also likely to spark a 
heated debate on whether the heroin shortage vindicates the federal 
Government's ``get tough on drugs'' policy -- with its emphasis on zero 
tolerance and police and Customs action to reduce the supply of drugs -- or 
whether the policy has simply diverted users to other dangerous drugs 
without solving any of the underlying problems. Users may no longer be 
losing their lives but, in some cases, they are losing fingers or their minds.

Ingrid, 29, a former dental nurse in Sydney (who wants her surname 
withheld, like all the users interviewed by Inquirer) attests to the 
increased violence on the streets. She lost three front teeth this year in 
a fracas over a drug deal. ``People will do anything to get some decent 
heroin,'' she says.

Some people blame the Taliban for all this. When the Taliban decreed that 
Afghanistan's most recent opium harvest should not be gathered, it stopped 
70per cent of the world's opium from reaching the international market. 
With a drought during the opium-growing season in Burma and increased 
police seizures here and overseas, it has resulted in a heroin drought on 
the streets of Australia.

There are other theories -- that drug dealers have switched from heroin to 
amphetamines because they are more profitable or that heroin dealers have 
deliberately restricted supplies to raise prices. But whatever the cause, 
it has resulted in near-panic among users. Searching for heroin, they often 
find white powder adulterated with icing sugar, salt or cement, only 2 per 
cent pure and up to four times more expensive.

Alison, 21, a user in Melbourne, says her friends have tried to get into a 
methadone withdrawal program or have looked for alternatives: ``All of my 
friends who used needles turned to benzos.'' She keeps buying heroin by 
selling low-grade powder.

``I know the police thought they were successful, but the drought caused so 
much crime. Everyone was planning robberies or setting people up.''

Peter, 29, a user, has gone back to burglaries and selling black-market 
cigarettes. ``I'm on the front line and there has been a definite increase 
in crime.''

The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research last month published a 
report on the heroin drought that found 56 per cent of addicts interviewed 
responded to the shortage by making do with other drugs. That leaves 44 per 
cent who have given up, either by simply going cold turkey or entering a 
methadone program. The Salvation Army's Brian Watters, head of the 
Australian National Council on Drugs, sees that as vindication of the 
federal Government's get-tough policy, implemented in 1998. He points to 
increased police activity and drug seizures.

``What we've seen is what many of us have been saying for a long time, that 
the most important thing is [to] reduce the supply of drugs. It's true some 
people are topping up with other drugs, but a large percentage are also 
giving up.''

The overdose drop is most striking in Victoria, where the mortality rate 
for the period from January to the end of October fell from 277 last year 
to 33 this year. Watters says: ``People said, `Let's save lives', and we've 
done that. We'll never completely stop the supply of drugs but we can 
reduce them and get rid of the surrender mentality that there's nothing we 
can do.''

Australia's police forces have had some notable successes. Victoria Police 
Detective Superintendent David Newton says: ``In the past two years we 
targeted and charged the 12 major heroin traffickers in Victoria. 
Co-operation between enforcement agencies has also disrupted syndicates.''

Newton says supply has also been affected by the UN Drug Control Program, 
which encourages farmers in South-East Asia to plant alternative crops to 
opium.

But most doctors, drug counsellors and researchers reject the notion that 
the drought vindicates government policy. Says John Fitzgerald, a senior 
lecturer in criminology at the University of Melbourne: ``For people to 
claim victory in the drug war is to lead the public astray. The biggest 
message from the drought is that we have no control over the illicit drug 
market. When heroin's not there, injecting still continues.''

Inner-Sydney doctor Andrew Byrne, who treats users, says enforcement has 
had an effect, but it is not enough: ``Most politicians say the answer is 
more prisons, but health officials must sit down and start talking about 
the problems rationally.''

David Murray, head of Victoria's Youth Substance Abuse Service, has seen no 
decrease in young people coming to his agency during the drought. He has 
seen a change in supply to other drugs, but no change in the common factors 
among those people seeking help. ``There is always a combination of 
homelessness, unemployment and family neglect or disintegration. If the 
Government wants to deal with drugs, they've got to look at economic 
development and work with local communities. It won't be solved solely 
through law enforcement.''

NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research director Don Weatherburn asks 
for objectivity from both sides in the debate:

``It's a continuing conflict between the treatment legalisers and the drug 
warriors. I'd urge them to look at the hard data.

Neither does it show victory in the drugs war nor is it an unmitigated 
disaster.''

As Heroin Evaporates, Crime Debate Blossoms

THE 2000 Drug Use Monitoring in Australia study provided the best 
indication so far of the link between drug usage and crime.

Based on interviews in police watch-houses, it found that 82per cent of 
those held for property offences were drug affected.

Of those detained for violent crimes, 65 per cent tested positive to any 
drug use and 41 per cent tested positive to any drug excluding cannabis.

The heroin drought's effect on crime is hotly disputed.

NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research figures show that although 
there was a sharp rise in house burglaries in January-February this year, 
when the drought first hit, the increase has not been maintained. Drug 
users and workers give anecdotal evidence that there has been more crime 
and violence.

But bureau director Don Weatherburn says their claims must be balanced 
against the people who went off heroin, leading to reduced crime.

House break-ins in Victoria have risen at 3 per cent to 5per cent each 
quarter for the past five years, but in this year's July-September quarter 
they dropped to 11,028 from 12,291 in the same period last year.

Weatherburn warns: ``Watch out for the vested interests in this debate. 
It's far from clear what the impact of the drought is on crime.''
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens