NEW SUPPLIES SPARK HEROIN WARNING

Victoria's health services are bracing themselves for a wave of drug
overdoses amid signs the state's heroin drought is about to break.

A sudden rise in heroin-related deaths in the past month, combined with
increased demand for needle exchange services and the reappearance of
dealers in known hot-spots have sparked warnings that the state's heroin
shortage is ending.

Health Minister John Thwaites said the end of the drought, which had led to
a dramatic fall in heroin-related deaths across the state, could drive up
the overdose toll.

Launching an awareness campaign, Mr Thwaites warned heroin users faced
increased risks of overdose after returning to the drug after a period
without it.

He said that since the drought began in October last year there had been a
drop-off in overdoses.

In the first three months of 2000, Victoria recorded 80 overdose deaths.
But between January 1 and April 17 this year, the state had only 15 such
fatalities.

Mr Thwaites said the heroin drought had been marked by a decline in the
public sale and use of heroin, a reduced demand on needle exchange
services, a growth in the number of people entering detoxification and an
increase in numbers using methadone and other drug-related services.

He said it had been due in part to drug hauls by police in Australia and
overseas, market manipulation by drug barons and climate changes in
heroin-producing regions.

"But there does seem to be some real evidence that the drug drought is
breaking," Mr Thwaites said.

In the first 11 weeks of this year, there were eight heroin-related deaths,
but in the five weeks since there had been seven more.

Leon Fernandes, a worker with the drug-users advocates group Vivaids, said
fewer overdoses were one symptom of the scarcity of heroin but another was
the increased use of prescription drugs, such as morphine and valium, and
other illegal drugs, like speed.

And that's precisely the reason the breaking of the drought may prove fatal
for users, he said.

In all likelihood, the new flood of heroin would be of an increased quality
and the prices would be lower, leading to more overdoses, Mr Fernandes said.

"A lot of users will have gone into involuntary withdrawal or substituted
other drugs, so their opiate tolerance will be much lower," he said.

Outreach drug worker Mark Young said there had been fluctuations in the
quality and quantity of heroin being sold on the streets recently, as well
as a steady increase in the number of people seeking drug information and
referral services.

Mr Fernandes concurred. "In some pockets it's been, 'oh my God it's back',"
he said. In others it's still more like, "it's coming". "We've been
anticipating the end of the drought for a while now, and it looks like it's
happening."

The government will use radio advertisements and posters to warn of the
dangers of the drug.