PURE AS THE DRIVEN SNOW: STUDY DISPELS MYTH ABOUT STREET HEROIN

A new study of the purity of street heroin in Australia's biggest
open-air drug market - Sydney's south-western suburbs - has found
that, contrary to popular myth, it is both relatively pure and free of
harmful cutting agents.

The study, funded by the NSW Department of Health, was the first to
analyse small heroin samples seized or found at street level.

The chemical analyses also examined the type of heroin present in the
sample - free base or hydrochloride - as well as testing for the
presence of adulterants. (Free-base heroin is insoluble in water and
is usually smoked while heroin salt, or hydrochloride, is soluble in
water and is usually injected or snorted.)

Previously, annual studies of heroin purity have been based on bigger
seizures obtained by the Australian Federal Police. It has not been
known whether these results could be applied to heroin bought or
consumed on the streets.

The most recent Federal police figures available - from 1998 -
revealed a purity of 71 per cent.

According to the study, which relied on samples obtained through
arrests of street-level users and dealers over a period of six months,
the average purity of the 88 samples was 66 per cent.

All the heroin samples obtained were in the hydrochloride salt form,
suggesting that recent public health moves to reduce health effects by
encouraging users to snort or smoke the drug rather than inject it may
be impeded by the type of heroin available on the Sydney market.

During the study period, heroin in Cabramatta was typically sold at
the street level in pre-packaged "caps", in which the drug was wrapped
in a small piece of foil and sealed in small plastic balloons.

"Half weights" (known as "Asian halves" for Asian customers) were
typically 0.5 grams, while "junkie halves" (for other customers)
weighed between 0.3 and 0.4 grams and were the next most common unit
of retail sale.

According to the report, the samples revealed a range of purity: "One
significant observation was that 15 per cent of exhibits and samples
were of extremely high purity (91-100 per cent) while none were less
than 20 per cent pure."

The study was prepared by three academics - Dr Lisa Maher of the
University of NSW, Dr Wendy Swift of the National Drug and Alcohol
Centre and Dr Michael Dawson of the University of Technology's
Department of Chemistry, Materials and Forensic Science. Their
analyses were also different in that, for the first time, they were
conducted in private laboratories rather than police labs.

The chemical break-downs revealed that:

One-third of samples revealed the presence of caffeine.

Additionally, 41 per cent of samples showed the presence of
paracetamol and related compounds.

One in five or 22 per cent of samples showed both caffeine and
paracetamol.

Sugars, used largely to add bulk, were present in around two-thirds of
samples. Only one in five samples contained all three dilutents -
sugar, caffeine and paracetamol.

"The absence of dangerous contaminants is consistent with previous
research based on interviews with drug dealers in the UK, which
suggests that contrary to common perception, dangerous adulteration is
largely mythical and that very little 'cutting' actually takes place,"
the report concluded.