CHRISTCHURCH ADDICTS 'USE UP TO $34M IN DRUGS A YEAR'

Christchurch has up to 3400 addicts and they consume morphine products with
a street value of up to $34 million a year, a medical group studying drug
abuse says.

Medical professionals from Healthlink South, the Ministry of Health, and the
Pegasus Medical Group, as well as the police, have tried to establish the
number of illicit drug users in the city.

The research, headed by Healthlink South's alcohol and drug service acting
clinical director, Steve Duffy, has indicated the number ranges from 1700 to
3400. Addicts are defined as people who regularly inject doses of morphine,
rarely less than 15mg.

The figures do not include the 645 opioid addicts who are being treated on
the Christchurch Methadone Programme. They were based on the number of drug
addicts released from Christchurch prisons as well as information from the
needle exchange programme and other sources.

Dr Duffy estimated that each addict used about 10g of morphine sulphate
tablets a year, converted to morphine. That means 17kg to 34kg of MST is
consumed by the group each year, at a street value of $17m to $34m.

The study also showed the diversion of morphine prescribed for pain relief
was only a minor source for illicit drug users.

Dr Duffy estimates that only about 2kg of morphine out of 13kg dispensed by
Canterbury doctors winds up being sold on the street.

"So it is coming from somewhere else, almost certainly overseas," he said.