HEROIN ACCIDENTS A TRAGEDY

FREMANTLE and Scarborough follow Perth and Northbridge as the suburbs with
the most accidental heroin deaths, according to a State Government report
released yesterday.

The WA Drug Abuse Strategy Office report, which analysed accidental
overdoses recorded between 1995 and 1998, shows the number of deaths a year
rose from 66 to 75 over the period, with a peak of 76 deaths in 1997.

The report does not include the number of suicides by heroin overdose. Those
figures were not available yesterday.

Although the figures for heroin deaths in 1999 and this year have not been
confirmed by the State Coroner's Office, the executive director of the drug
strategy office, Terry Murphy, said there had been 86 suspected heroin
deaths last year. The number this year was 32, compared with 34 at the same
time last year.

The analysis reveals that the average age of those who died was 31, though
in 1997 when there was a big increase nationally in deaths from heroin the
average age of females who died was 25. Except for 1997, 20 per cent of
those who died from heroin were younger than 25.

The report also says the purity of the heroin on WA streets increased from
an average of 41 per cent in 1995-96 to 59 per cent in 1997-98. Mr Murphy
said the level of purity had remained about 60 per cent since then.

The highest purity found in heroin in Perth was 88 per cent in 1997-98, up
from 78 per cent three years earlier.

Twenty-nine per cent of those who died over the three years also had alcohol
in their body and 40 per cent had taken tranquillisers. The combination of
those drugs is known to make the use of heroin much more dangerous.

A third of the deaths were between 8am and 2pm and two-thirds were between
Wednesday and Saturday, with most recorded on Friday and Saturday.

Almost three-quarters were in a private home, 9 per cent in hotels, 8 per
cent in a carpark or street and 5 per cent in a public toilet. There were 21
deaths in 1997-98 in country areas.

Sixty per cent of the females who died from heroin overdoses in these years
were aged between 20 and 29 and half the males were aged 25 to 34.

Pathologists found a range of illicit and prescription drugs, including
cannabis, in those who died from an accidental overdose.

Mr Murphy said the findings reinforced the Government's strategy to educate
users about the dangers of using heroin and mixing it with other drugs.