HEROIN DEATHS LIKELY TO HAVE INCREASED AGAIN

Deaths from heroin overdoses are expected to have increased for the 1999
calendar year, the Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD) said today.

The increased use of a combination of drugs, in particular heroin with
alcohol and benzodiazepines, had significantly contributed to the higher
death rate, the council said.

The ANCD today released a position paper on heroin-related overdoses.

``Current estimates suggest that Australia may see a further increase in
the number of deaths from heroin overdoses this year,'' executive members
Major Brian Watters, Professor Ian Webster and Professor Margaret Hamilton
said in a joint statement.

They said they hoped the position paper would provide the basis for the
development of a national strategy on tackling the scourge of heroin
overdoses.

National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre figures showed that 737 people
had died from heroin overdoses in 1998, having increased steadily from just
six in 1964.

The ANCD found that, apart from the likelihood this figure would rise again
for 1999, there was evidence that mental health problems among drug users
sometimes resulted in suicide from deliberate overdoses.

On the issue of supervised injecting rooms, the paper reinforced the ANCD's
earlier statement that, should they be trialled, they be rigorously
evaluated before consideration of continuing with them.

Major Watters, the ANCD chairman, said the importance of the position paper
had been sadly accentuated by a recent spate of deaths in New South Wales
and the Australian Capital Territory and the increasing number of ambulance
call-outs for overdoses.

``Continued support for the increasing cooperation between the law
enforcement and health sectors on dealing with heroin use and overdose
should be clearly recognised as a critical factor in reducing the heroin
overdose rates,'' he said.

``In particular, governments should focus on reducing any real or perceived
legal barriers to the effective management of overdoses.''

He said reducing heroin overdose deaths and other drug-related harms
required an understanding of the complex health, mental health and social
well-being of people, particularly youth.

The paper also called for:

- - increased availability of treatment services, including methadone and other
drug substitution programs;

- - greater understanding between police and paramedics in managing overdoses;

- - greater education of drug users on safer practices;

- - increased support and education for families and friends of drug users,
and;

- - a willingness to investigate and trial innovative programs.