Source: Advertiser, The (Australia) Contact: Sat, 19 Sep 1998 Author: Police Reporters, Jeremy Pudney and John Merriman EASY STREET FOR HARD DRUGS HARD drugs such as heroin and speed are readily available in Adelaide. Inquiries by The Advertiser suggest most users have "contacts" from whom they can easily buy drugs such heroin. Some dealers are also known to sell drugs in and around hotels, although the risk of being caught is far higher. Heroin sells for about $50 a "cap'; a small quantity packaged for individual sale. Amphetamine which is taken by many first-time injecting drug users, who then move to heroin can be bought for about $80 a gram. And, The Advertiser has been told some dealers offer discounts to get users hooked on the drug. Once they are hooked the price is increased and many addicts turn to crime to feed their hablt It is believed the State has a minimum of 5000 illicit drug users and possibly as many as l5,000. In the past financial year, 1.7 million syringes had been distributed through 191 needle exchange venues across South Australia. Dr Jason White, from Adelaide University's Department of Pharmacology, said heroin use seemed to have become fashionable" in recent years. This may be the result of attention heroin has received in movies such as Trainspotting or Pulp Fiction or even the fashion industry's controversial "heroin chic". "There has been quite a bit of attention and it is a bit hard to know which comes first," Dr White sald. "From talking to younger users, more are experimenting." The average age of a first-time user is 20, while the average age of an addict is about 30. It is estimated about 61 per cent of injecting drug users are male, half have committed crimes to support their habit and 31 per cent have served tune in prison. About 36 per cent of addicts are unemployed but 67 per cent have had some forn of tertiary education. He said with Adelaide's increased heroin use had also come increased purity in the drug. This may explain a higher incidence of overdoses. "One of the things that can trip up heroin users is the purity, if they are used to 40 or 50 per cent and then get a batch which is 90 per cent pure," he said. - --- Checked-by: Don Beck