NO END - OR WINNER - IN SIGHT IN WAR ON DRUGS

As heroin dries up on the streets of Sydney new problems arise ("Drop
in heroin use but crime levels stay same", Herald, October 18). What
little heroin around is now significantly cut with contaminants and
has risen in price from $280 a gram to $400. This means users have to
find more money for their habits and risk infection. There has been an
alarming increase in cocaine and amphetamines including shabu or "ice"
a particularly potent form of crystal methamphetamine on the streets.
Users are agitated aggressive and sometimes psychotic when using large
amounts of these readily available stimulants.

Drug users will often replace one illicit drug for another, sometimes
with catastrophic consequences. We must be careful about claiming a
victory in an unwinnable war.

Dr Raymond Seidler, Kings Cross, October 18.