DRUG LINK TO NURSE ASSAULTS

ASSAULTS on nurses at a big city hospital have doubled in the past month,
with a confidential memo blaming the rise on a heroin drought.Staff at
Sydney Hospital reported 80 cases of patients abusing or attacking staff,
up from about 40 reports the month before.

A Health Department memo says a lack of heroin on the streets has forced
users to turn to other drugs, notably cocaine, which causes far more
aggressive behaviour.

St Vincent's and Prince of Wales hospitals have had more aggressive
patients in recent years, but not because of a shortage of heroin.

When heroin becomes unavailable, drug users often inject other drugs and
commonly use cocaine or amphetamines, with different effects.

Heroin users inject on average three times a day. The effect lasts for
hours, and users often fall asleep.

Cocaine is the reverse. It is fast-acting, and its effects last only 10
minutes or so.

Because it is a stimulant, users are left wide awake, craving for more of
the drug.

Many of them inject more often than heroin users -- sometimes every 15 minutes.

NSW Health figures from Cabramatta, a hub of the heroin trade, show the
extent of the heroin shortage.

Needle-exchange figures reveal as many as 50,000 syringes were dispensed in
Cabramatta each month, but the number has fallen to a low of 12,600 in
April and to 15,800 last month.

The number of people given Narcan, an antidote for heroin overdose, dropped
dramatically to 23 in January, then 11 in February, from the normal 60 to
70 a month.

The State Government and the Nurses Federation launched a public education
campaign in May highlighting the issue after revealing that 600 nurses are
assaulted each year.

The Government announced an security upgrade at big hospitals, including
training nurses in the use of chemical sprays to control violent patients.

The British Government last week announced a "red card" system to combat
aggressive patients.

Under that plan, violent patients would be given a "yellow card" and warned
for inappropriate behaviour.

If such patients were involved a second violent incident, they could be
banned from the hospital for a year.