SURGE IN HEROIN OVERDOSE CALLOUTS

Wellington Free Ambulance says it's dealing with its biggest surge in
heroin overdose callouts since the 1970s.

At least three cases of heroin overdose have been picked up by Wellington
Free Ambulance in the past month. Drug workers say they know of at least
one teenager overdosing on heroin in Lower Hutt recently.

Chief ambulance officer Paul O'Flaherty said he hadn't seen such a heroin
presence in the Capital since the 1970s, when heroin overdoses were
occurring twice a week.

But Detective Sergeant Tony Quayle of National Drug Intelligence Bureau
said it was too early to tell if heroin overdose incidents in Wellington
were a "one-off" or the start of a trend.

"We're not talking about Mr Asia days yet."

Wellington man Timothy Thomas, 31, was found dead from a heroin overdose
last month, and two Auckland men were arrested in Wellington after police
found a large amount of heroin in their car.

Mr O'Flaherty said that drug overdose incidents in Wellington had almost
doubled in the past six months, from 13 to 23.

He couldn't say how many were from heroin, or the victims' ages.

Fantasy, which killed a 22-year-old student in Auckland last weekend,
didn't appear to be a problem in Wellington, he said.

Workers at Wellington's Needle Exchange said one teenager in the Hutt area
had to be revived by family members from a heroin overdose within the past
fortnight.

Staff said that people are starting as intravenous drug users at a younger age.

Teen ravers were injecting the common dance drugs Ecstasy and speed,
breaking down their barriers to injecting heroin.

Wellington Needle Exchange co-ordinator Kelly Auerbach said younger people
on the dance party scene were at risk of using drugs of unknown potency.

New guidelines were being drawn up with the Wellington Hospital methadone
programme to advise young people about heroin and intravenous drugs.

Another problem was that syringes being used to inject the drugs were being
dumped in public places, exposing children or anyone picking them up to the
risk of HIV or hepatitis infection.

The Inter-Agency Committee on Drugs, comprising 27 agencies, is considering
a push to legalise possession of syringes after a Needle Exchange survey
found users were too frightened of arrest to return them for safe disposal.

A Ministry of Health spokesperson said the committee was concerned by the
findings.

Possessing drug equipment is illegal now. But if users are caught with a
syringe issued by a registered exchange, they can use this as a defence.

Needle Exchange national co-ordinator Simon Nimmo, who has lobbied for
years to legalise drug paraphernalia, said this was not a big enough
incentive for addicts to return needles.

Police used needle possession charges to get information from drug users,
he said.

Mr Nimmo said that, of the one million needles given out nationally, only
25-30 percent were returned.