DESPERATE DEALERS LACING HEROIN WITH GYPROCK

SOME drug dealers have resorted to lacing heroin with Gravox or
gyprock as they contend with the biggest collapse in the heroin market
in more than a decade.

The acute shortage has created widespread disorder among Canberra's
drug-using community and raised fears by health workers about the
impact on the already poor health of many addicted heroin users.

They fear outbreaks of violence as dealers battle each other over
scarce supplies, and supplies of cheap cocaine arriving on Canberra's
streets at half the price of heroin.

The head of ACT police operations, Commander Ben McDevitt, warned
yesterday that the purity of street heroin had decreased dramatically
in recent months and led to other drugs gaining favour.

"We are seeing heroin being mixed with other drugs such as
amphetamines," Mr McDevitt said.

"Information from the street indicates the drug is scarce and in most
cases non-existent. The impurity of the product has increased and
local heroin has been cut or substituted with substances such as
Gravox and gyprock."

There was a clear message to illicit drug users to be aware because
they did not know what they were injecting.

Heroin supplies had been in decline for about two months and prices
had increased threefold.

The cost of an ounce of heroin had increased from between $4000 and
$6000 in December to between $8000 and $15,000. Civil unrest and
seasonal growing conditions in cultivating countries were factors.
Another was Australia becoming a tougher target to penetrate.

Huge national seizures showed it is more difficult to import drugs
into Australia and this was having a dramatic impact on supplies.