Wondering how big the heroin scene in Australia is these days. Europe appears to be undergoing a major drought (especially the UK and Republic of Ireland.) Apparently, the rest of the EU as well. There have been many theories put forth- failing crops, drug interdiction, taliban manipulating the supply of opium, ect...Just wondering what the scene, if any, is like in Australia in particular and Oceana in general especially New Zeland. Is #4 white heroin from SE Asia still the prevelant gear available? I know that meth/ice is the main thing, but how prevelant is the dope fiend community and is their adequate harm reduction (low threshold methadone, needle exchanges, ect...?)
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AADD Moderators: Tronica
Heroin Scene in Australia?
- Thread starter jspun
- Start date
Sameria
Bluelighter
Availiability discussions are not allowed here unfortunately. This thread will be closed soon.
In the meantime, it can't hurt to get in contact with someone in Aus who is in the scene and have a friendly chat with them.
In the meantime, it can't hurt to get in contact with someone in Aus who is in the scene and have a friendly chat with them.
belarki
Bluelight Crew
Sorry jspun, as Sameria said we discourage availability discussion and this thread is pretty borderline. I'll leave it open for now if people can provide links to useful and informative literature on Australian drug trends? Happy for another mod to close the thread if it heads off course though 
You'd have to do a bit of research before you could pinpoint the causes behind these trends. For one I don't know if the taliban manipulating the supply of opium is one of them: opium production in Afghanistan peaked in 2007 and was the highest in history at that point in time, supplying over 50% of the world's opium and exceeding the estimated annual demand. Even with it dropping in the last year it is still pretty high. Related reading:
Sharp drop in Afghan opium production
Afghanistan as a Drug War
National Drug & Research Centre - Drug Trends Series
Australian Institute of Criminology - Drug Use
Heroin Users in Australia: Population Trends (less useful as it only goes up to 1997)
We do have good needle exchange programs and a very successful (if unpopular) safe injecting room program has been trialled in Sydney. As for harm reduction in general, well I'd argue it starts with education and unfortunately drug education in Australia often amounts to simply promoting abstinence.... There is still an enormous stigma attached to IV drug use and as such the number of heroin users in Australia is tiny compared to users of other illicit drugs.
You'd have to do a bit of research before you could pinpoint the causes behind these trends. For one I don't know if the taliban manipulating the supply of opium is one of them: opium production in Afghanistan peaked in 2007 and was the highest in history at that point in time, supplying over 50% of the world's opium and exceeding the estimated annual demand. Even with it dropping in the last year it is still pretty high. Related reading:
Sharp drop in Afghan opium production
Afghanistan as a Drug War
National Drug & Research Centre - Drug Trends Series
Australian Institute of Criminology - Drug Use
Heroin Users in Australia: Population Trends (less useful as it only goes up to 1997)
We do have good needle exchange programs and a very successful (if unpopular) safe injecting room program has been trialled in Sydney. As for harm reduction in general, well I'd argue it starts with education and unfortunately drug education in Australia often amounts to simply promoting abstinence.... There is still an enormous stigma attached to IV drug use and as such the number of heroin users in Australia is tiny compared to users of other illicit drugs.
canarylove
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2010
- Messages
- 105
perth def has a thriving community, western aus.
Thanks for the links Belarki, Sorry- I didn't realize the rules. What prompted me is analogous threads on my continent drug discussion and the heroin drougth/social in EADD. Just general curiosity on what's going on in other parts of the world. I'm on vacation and the dope fiends on the street appear to be the Ice on this tropical island. As far as harm reduction, I heard a radio advertisement for medical marijuana- with 3 dispensaries open on this island, on this far western island state. It dose seem like harm reduction here otherwise is geared towards abstinence only (other 2 Islands have MMT) that I know of. Were I live in CA they have more extensive options and Mexico, 45 minutes from my house is on the verge of loss of central control. The good news seems to be that in a decade, they went from a hardcore punitive approach to harm reduction, decriminalization, and more flexible treatment options: if the cartels aren't gunning down your rehab. From what I've heard, the wild, wild west meets needle park- were the military patrols the streets, and some cops protect drug spots despite El Presidente Calderone's crackdowns- which appear to be selective possibly. I'll check out the links.