DEATH AS DRUG RETURNS

A DEATH and a spate of overdoses in the past 48 hours has raised alarm that
a new influx of heroin has hit Melbourne streets.

Ambulance crews have been called to four overdoses in the Footscray area in
the past two days after three months of almost no overdoses.

One user died in Leeds St, Footscray, at 3.30pm yesterday after paramedics
were unable to revive him.

A shortage of heroin had sparked a surge in armed and unarmed robberies as
users took increasingly desperate measures to meet the rising cost of their
habit.

"It's scary stuff," Open Family worker Les Twentyman said.

"The foot sloggers are back to where we were and we're going to see more
deaths."

Australia's first legal heroin injecting rooms will open in weeks in
Sydney's red-light district.

The last legal barrier to the planned facility was removed yesterday when a
New South Wales Supreme Court judge dismissed a challenge by local business
groups.