NEWS: The Age - 24/07/2006 'Deaths dive in war on heroin'

[hoptis]

Deaths dive in war on heroin
Jason Dowling
July 23, 2006

MELBOURNE is winning the war on heroin with a dramatic decline in overdose deaths that has taken narcotics experts and politicians by surprise.

Just nine heroin users have died so far this year, compared with 39 at the same time last year. And the toll is a dramatic turnaround on 1999 when 359 Victorians died from overdoses at a time when Melbourne's CBD was awash with heroin.

The chairman of the Premier's Drug Prevention Council, Rob Moodie, said the decline was remarkable.

While some people might have switched to less lethal drugs, he said stemming drug fatalities was a crucial step.

"If you go by the creed that you can't rehabilitate a dead drug user, then this is a notion of getting more and more people into treatment, getting more and more people out of active using is a really good thing," he said.

John Ryan, chief executive of drugs policy research organisation Anex, said the reduction was due to factors including:

• Education about overdoses, including a big campaign this year via syringe programs.
• Heroin may be passing as the most popular injecting drug in favour of amphetamines.
• A heroin shortage in the first three months this year.
• The strength or purity of the available heroin being significantly lower than a year ago, and way down on its purity at the height of overdose deaths five years ago.

Dr Moodie said there also had been a decline in the number of syringes being used.

Police Minister Tim Holding lauded the results. "A lot of different agencies can share in the credit of what has been achieved so far, including Victoria Police," Mr Holding said.

"However, we recognise that the drug trade is always evolving and new substances, many domestically produced, are presenting new challenges."

Health Minister Bronwyn Pike said it was great news and meant the Bracks Government's investment in rehabilitation and policing was working.

The Department of Human Services' drugs policy branch noted the sharp decline in the number of syringes distributed to addicts, reporting that "the decline in demand for sterile injecting equipment in the March quarter is consistent with reports of reduced heroin availability and quality for the first three months of 2006".

There was also a steady rise in the number of people receiving methadone and buprenorphine treatment, with an increase from about 7000 in 2002 to nearly 11,000 this year.

Paul Dietze, from the Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, said several factors had driven the decline.

"Since the heroin drought in early 2001, the heroin supply has been pretty variable and also injecting drug users have shifted towards using other types of drugs, so there is that combination of factors and more and more people are on methadone," Professor Dietze said.

"There is likely a confluence of factors contributing to it," he said, and cautioned that it was too early to say whether the war on heroin was being won.

"I don't think we can be sure at this stage. We have surveillance mechanisms in place that will tell us more over time. At this stage, it is just a finding to be welcomed that people aren't dying," he said.

Last week, the Greens announced a policy to "evaluate treatment programs for heroin-dependent users, including medically supervised injection spaces".

Greens drugs policy spokeswoman Colleen Hartland said the decline in overdose deaths "could change in six months" and more work needed to be done. She said heroin injecting rooms provided broader opportunities for rehabilitation.

Opposition health spokeswoman Helen Shardey said the decline in deaths was great news, and indicated Victoria did not require safe injecting rooms.

From The Age

 

[hoptis]

Heroin deaths tumble, but stimulants a problem
Carmel Egan
July 23, 2006

VICTORIA leads the world in the fight against heroin, but is following international trends with an escalation in mental health problems caused by amphetamines.

A heroin shortage coupled with innovative drug treatment programs has resulted in Victoria's heroin death toll falling from a peak of 359 in 1999 to nine deaths so far this year.

But drug researchers and police warn against complacency. International and Australian drug syndicates are diversifying from heroin production and trafficking into amphetamines.

"This is no time for complacency," said Professor Steve Allsop, director of the National Drug Research Institute. "We have to be vigilant about heroin. It is likely to re-emerge at some point and services and governments have to be prepared for that.

"If heroin became more available tomorrow, we would see an increase in use, but we would not see a dramatic reduction in the use of amphetamines.

"We have a culture at this moment more attracted to stimulants. If you are working longer hours and wanting to party all night long, you are more likely to be attracted to stimulants than depressants," he said.

"Behavioural and mental health problems are on the rise from amphetamine use, creating a lot of problems for emergency service workers and police and families."

Professor Allsop credits Victoria's dramatic turnaround in heroin deaths to Government commitment, better policing and improved drug treatment programs. "The Government should be patted on the back for what it has done, and then asked for more," he said.

Less heroin on the streets and increased preference for amphetamines is also believed to be behind overdose rates falling in Britain and Canada.

The war on terror has also helped reduce heroin deaths. Drug smugglers have been caught by improved surveillance and international police co-operation.

"We have been putting a lot more effort into transnational crime focused on stopping drugs reaching Australia," said a spokesperson for the Australian Federal Police.

"We have expanded our international liaison network, which means posting AFP employees in other countries for intelligence sharing with foreign law enforcement agencies.

"That has been expanded in recent years for the purposes of counter-terrorism but also drugs."

The federal police now has a network of liaison officers throughout South-East Asia and has also established offices in Colombia and Pakistan, the latter also being responsible for monitoring drug trafficking in Afghanistan.

According to the spokesperson, most recent police seizures have been of large amounts of pseudoephedrine, which is used to make ecstasy.

From The Age

 

[chugs]

All the heroin users i know have either moved to using ice and bupe. most of the heroin dealers stopped selling smack and have moved on to selling ice.

has nothing to do with education and definately nothing to do with policing

 

[on_the_rise_5]

I think the rise in popularity of ice in particular is what has caused the move away from Heroin, i know spesh down in Tas. herion is not to widely used, however morphine is quite big and i think its popularity is starting to rise, any other Tasmanians seen this? Also whats with the most recent siezures being of pseudo and it making Ecstasy, i was pretty sure it was for amphetamines, i not real sure on production etc, but i though main precursor chemical for X was saffrole... is this once again more bad reporting from the age or is it me?

 

[Splatt]

Morphine is big in NT too, even seen a few "junkie" types in Brisbane talking about morphine being the opiate they use most. At least it isnt NZ's homebake, which i think is a shootable version of codeine.

 

[ayjay]

All the heroin users i know have either moved to using ice and bupe. most of the heroin dealers stopped selling smack and have moved on to selling ice.

has nothing to do with education and definately nothing to do with policing

I tend to agree with you - I don't think that education or policing are big factors here.

There's definitely more ice around, and I suppose a percentage of people will happily smoke their ice - this could account for the drop in syringe distribution.

It'd be nice to move away from the 'war' paradigm when discussing impacts of drug use...

 

[hoptis]

I found this snippet interesting.

"We have a culture at this moment more attracted to stimulants. If you are working longer hours and wanting to party all night long, you are more likely to be attracted to stimulants than depressants," he said.

It's definitely worth thinking about, the relationship between the popularity of a drug and the times in general. How strong is it? Is it a simple cause-and-effect relationship?

Thinking about the relevance of acid and cannabis to the 60's, cocaine to the 80's, heroin to the 90's and meth to today's times.

 

[Diacetylus]

"We have a culture at this moment more attracted to stimulants. If you are working longer hours and wanting to party all night long, you are more likely to be attracted to stimulants than depressants," he said.

In my opinion, it's the complete opposite for me. If I smoke meth/Ice, I will be up for a day+ and by the time the drug has completely worn off, I couldn't think of anything worse than having to spend a 12 hour day at work for the next few days.
Meth/Ice is the ideal partier's drug, yes. With that they are right.
But, for me, I find Opiates, especially Heroin give me no "comedown" and I'm fine for work the next day, actually, I'd even go as far as saying I feel more refreshed the day after using Heroin, due to it's "afterglow".
Also, if you do alot of laboursome work, Heroin tends to annihilate any physical discomfort/pain after a hard day's work.
Why do you think Opium smoking is so prevelant amongst the farmers and labourers in south-east-asia?

 

[ilikeacid]

If I smoke meth/Ice, I will be up for a day+ and by the time the drug has completely worn off, I couldn't think of anything worse than having to spend a 12 hour day at work for the next few days.

This is true for ice, but in general, amphetamines can be utilized by all sorts of people in measured amounts to go about their daily business.. I know I do occasionally. "Comedowns" are quite insignificant if measured amounts are taken during the course of the day, wheneva I use wizz for study, reading ect I just feel a bit tired at the end of the day, a few drinks later and I'm fine.

Hoptis

It's definitely worth thinking about, the relationship between the popularity of a drug and the times in general. How strong is it? Is it a simple cause-and-effect relationship?

Thinking about the relevance of acid and cannabis to the 60's, cocaine to the 80's, heroin to the 90's and meth to today's times.

definitely an interesting relationship when stated like that.. Maybe its just the evolution of the rave culture thats led to a more widespread ice usage? Maybe it's linked to E's rise in popularity amongst all sorts of party ppl? Maybe there's a link between meth's euphoric feeling and its avaliability and relative low cost?... It does seem to be becoming the drug of the 00's %)

 

[chugs]

i don't think its anything to do with the effect of the drugs

its to do with simple supply. Meth has flooded the market because it's easier to produce and the margins are higher for the traffickers.

people who were heroin addicts had no qualms with moving to a drug like meth even though they were seemingly addicted to a downer.

Same with the 60s. Acid was practically legal, produced heavily by a culture/group of chemists who werent even interested in profit. the drug flooded the market (same with dope).

If they had developed a way of making meth back in the 60s, as easily as its done now - then it would of been just as popular now as it is now.

 

[ayjay]

^hell yes! Remember that Alice in Chains song - "What's my drug of choice - well what have you got"

Although - speed was pretty popular in the 60s too - mostly pharmaceuticals. The trippy hippy stuff was really only towards the end of the 60s, with a small percentage of the population involved. That really only confirms your point - speed pill popularity died off as availability plummeted. There's an interesting thread over on "other drugs" about street availability of pharmaceuticals which is kind of related...

 

[Portillo]

Maybe they should open an injecting room to get 0 overdose deaths.