Pubdate: Thu, 29 Nov 2001 Source: Australian, The (Australia) Copyright: 2001 News Limited Contact: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/35 Author: Jamie Walker and John Kerin HEROIN DROUGHT SEES ADDCITS QUIT UNABLE to obtain heroin because of an unprecedented "drought" of the drug, Australian addicts are quitting or turning to alternatives that pose a lower overdose risk, a new study shows. The National Drug and Alcohol Research Council survey of illicit drug users confirms that Australia is in the "unique" position of being the only country in the developed world to be experiencing a heroin shortage. While this had "positive consequences" in terms of lowering both the overdose and drug use rate, the take-up of cocaine and a potent form of crystalline amphetamine, known as ice or shabu, could have serious implications for public health and law enforcement. The study reveals that heroin prices doubled in Sydney since last Christmas, when the shortage began. The NSW capital is thought to account for about half the illegal drug market in Australia, with Melbourne responsible for another 25 per cent. A cap, or individual hit, of heroin that would have sold for $25 last year now commanded at least $50 on the street in Sydney, and would be only 51 per cent pure, down from the pre-drought average of 62 per cent. In Western Australia, the cost of a full gram of heroin had climbed from $450 to $750. "Australia's heroin drought is totally unique - never before has a modern Western drug market experienced such a marked reduction in the supply of heroin," said Libby Topp, co-ordinator of NDARC's Illicit Drug Reporting System. "And at the present time, only Australia is experiencing such a shortage." The findings came as the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that illicit drug use was costing the community $1.7 billion a year. It found there are at least 74,000 dependent heroin users in Australia, and that 39 per cent of people over 14 have used marijuana. The ABS said 83,049 arrests for drug offences were made in 1999-2000, with police seizing 4365kg of marijuana, 735kg of heroin, 382kg of amphetamine-type substances and 839kg of cocaine. Stepped-up law en forcement has been credited as one of the factors behind the heroin shortage, along with an actual drought in Burma, which decimated that country's opium crop, and a ban by Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime on heroin production. "We think ultimately it will be shown that there is no single factor, but a complex interplay of factors that led to this shortage," Dr Topp told The Australian. The growing popularity of methamphetamines (ice/shabu) is reflected in increased Customs seizures, up from just 971 grams in 1997-98, to 82,104 grams for 2000-01. Dr Topp said higher cocaine usage was identified in NSW, ACT and Queensland, while increased injection of benzodiazepines (such as Valium or Normison) had emerged in South Australia and Victoria. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom