Mushrooms pick of Tassie drugs scene
MICHELLE PAINE
May 04, 2007 12:00am
TASMANIAN party-drug users are heavily into magic mushrooms -- much more so than their interstate counterparts, a Hobart study shows.
Three-quarters of party-drug users studied last year had used them and 55 per cent used "shrooms" in the previous six months, compared with 19 per cent in Australia overall and 7 per cent in NSW.
The findings are in the Trends in Ecstasy and Related Drug Market Study 2006 report, compiled by the UNSW National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre.
Of 100 Tasmanian regular users of ecstasy surveyed, 74 had used magic mushrooms, compared with about 50 per cent interstate.
But users said mushrooms were less desirable than most other drugs and often took the place of others, including LSD, because they were free.
"Although the use of the psychedelics appears to have increased over the last four years of this study, this largely reflects an increase in the use of mushrooms, whereas the use of LSD has remained relatively stable," said the Tasmanian Trends in Ecstasy and Related Drug Markets 2006 report by A. Matthews and R. Bruno.
Of the 100 regular ecstasy users surveyed, 69 had used nitrous oxide (laughing gas), compared with 49 per cent nationally, and 33 had used it in the previous six months, compared with 22 per cent nationally.
Ecstasy users had used an average of nine drugs and up to 19. Every Tasmanian surveyed had used cannabis and 94 per cent used tobacco.
The Illicit Drug Reporting System has raised concerns of needle sharing, with Hobart users surveyed reporting sharing needles and injecting equipment.
Last year, Hobart's only 24-hour needle exchange closed.
The report noted a "high level of extremely risky injection practices . . . that have not been identified in other data sources".
"One in 10 participants had given a used needle to another in the month prior to interview, and four in 10 had themselves re-used injecting equipment from shared disposal bins," the report said.
