HEROIN NEAR-DEATHS REACH 6,000 A YEAR

NSW paramedics are reviving nearly 6,000 people from heroin overdoses each
year.

Ambulance call-outs have risen by 38 per cent in just one year and Sydney
remains the focus of the nation's heroin problem, the latest study has
found.

The analysis of call-outs to heroin users throughout the State found that
115 users a week - an average of 16 a day - needed to be revived with an
injection of the anti-opiate Narcan.

The study, prepared by the University of NSW's National Drug and Alcohol
Research Centre, is believed to be only the third of its kind in the world.
Germany has prepared similar statistics, as has Victoria.

It showed that between July 1997 and June 1998 there were 4,335 call-outs
to non-fatal overdoses. For 1998-99, there were 5,989 - a 38.2 per cent
increase.

In the first year, there were an average of 361 calls a month to overdoses,
compared with an average of 499 the following year.

In Victoria, there were an average of 129 call-outs a month between
November 1997 and January 1998.

The study also examined geographic trends, providing the first true
snapshot of heroin use throughout NSW, and especially in Sydney.

It confirmed that the South Sydney area - including Kings Cross,
Darlinghurst, Surry Hills, Newtown, Erskineville, St Peters and Tempe - is
the city's prime heroin "hotspot", accounting for 2,034 of all ambulance
call-outs.

This was closely followed by the Liverpool area, which included Cabramatta,
Glenfield, Ashcroft, Casula, Badgerys Creek, Holsworthy, Prairiewood and
Bonnyrigg.

These two areas alone accounted for 40 per cent of all NSW call-outs.

Outside Sydney, the higher rates were registered in Newcastle, Orange and
Kiama.

Twenty-five areas registered more than the State average of 82 ambulance
call-outs per 100,000 population.

These included the Botany area (Alexandria, Redfern, Mascot, Rosebery);
Manly (Balgowlah, Allambie); Leichhardt (Glebe, Annandale, Leichhardt,
Balmain); Marrickville (Petersham, Stanmore, Camperdown) and Penrith
(Kingswood, Emu Plains, Rooty Hill, Doonside).

In the country, when population differences were accounted for,
Wollondilly, Inverell, Balranald and bigger towns such as Goulburn and
Lismore registered more than the State average.

Areas of Sydney below the average included the North Shore and the north
west.

One of the study authors, Ms Louisa Degenhardt, said the most striking
aspect of the study were the numbers.

"These ambulance call-outs are occurring more frequently than people
realise and, while Sydney's at the centre, they are also happening outside
the city," she said.

"... It is also affecting smaller towns in the State. All the numbers were
surprisingly high."

The figures show 737 Australians died from heroin overdose in 1998, 23 per
cent more than in 1997. In NSW, 358 died, up from 292.