USING: NEARLY EVERYBODY'S DOING IT

Australians are estimated to spend about $14 billion a year on illicit
drugs.

They spent $4 billion injecting 10 tonnes of heroin, $4 billion snorting
about the same amount of cocaine, an estimated $4-$6 billion on
amphetamines. The harvest of the most commonly used drug, marijuana, is so
big it is too difficult to estimate. But it is huge.

By their own admission, 46 per cent of Australians older than 14 use heroin,
cocaine, marijuana and amphetamines. Some are multiple-drug users. In many
cases, the real number of users is greater than admitted to.

The latest National Drug Strategy Household Survey found that 39.3 per cent
of Australians had used marijuana, 10.7 per cent hallucinogens, 8.7 per cent
amphetamines, 4.7 per cent Ecstasy and designer drugs, 4.3 per cent cocaine
and 2.2 per cent heroin.

Increasingly, users are becoming younger as pushers target school-age
children. But the survey reveals that the greatest threat is to young
females, and it comes from heroin dealers.

Usually, male heroin users outnumber females more than 2-1. But in the 14-19
age group, the situation is reversed: female users (1.4 per cent) outnumber
males (0.5 per cent) 3-1.

In the three years since the last survey in 1996, heroin use among young
females increased by almost 60 per cent. But by age 21, the equation is
restored, with twice as many male users. Males start later. In the same
period, marijuana use shot up among females aged 14-19 - from 19.9 per cent
in 1996 to 34.2 per cent, level with usage among males of the same ages.

Illicit drug users buy their preference on the street, in cafes, hotels,
practically everywhere, at prices that range from $20 for a "tab" of heroin
to $100 for an amphetamine "deal". There is no shortage of customers and
only seldomly a shortage of drugs.

The drug market:

MARIJUANA: There is a growing acceptance of marijuana, with a quarter of the
adult population saying it was not a law problem.

Thirty per cent of males and 21 per cent of females - more than 2.7 million
people - said they had used marijuana recently. The highest usage (44 per
cent) was among males aged 20-29. In the same group, 29 per cent of females
used the drug, up six per cent. Recent users included 547,000 males and
females aged 19 years and younger.

Marijuana is grown everywhere in Australia. High potency "skunk" or "hydro"
costs $30-$50 for a one-gram "deal".

HEROIN: Since 1995, more people - 37 per cent, up from 30 per cent -
associate heroin with the drug problem. Two per cent - about the number of
users - considered heroin acceptable. They consume an estimated 10-14 tonnes
a year of mostly No4 heroin imported from Burma, Thailand, Laos, Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Vietnam, Cambodia, the People's Republic of China, and
Colombia. Heroin costs $20 for a "tab" of 0.02 grams at Cabramatta, the
cheapest in Australia, and $50 elsewhere. It is also called smack, horse,
hammer, H, China white, is almost universally injected and sometimes smoked.

COCAINE: Known as coke, nose candy, snow and okey-dokey, it is imported from
Colombia, Peru, Bolivia. There are twice as many cocaine users - 3.8 per
cent of males, 1.1 per cent of females - than heroin users. But less is
known about the regularity of use, with cocaine becoming as much a status
symbol as an expensive car or a luxury apartment.

But law enforcement agencies cautiously estimate that the total consumption
of cocaine is about the same as heroin. Often cocaine costs more, up to $80
a "cap".

Health professionals report that cocaine users are more aggressive and
anti-social than heroin users. When influenced by the drug, they believe
themselves to be invincible. Police regard cocaine users in need of a "fix"
as more dangerous than heroin users.

Cocaine is usually snorted. The Bureau of Criminal Intelligence reports a
"disturbing" trend to injection.

AMPHETAMINES: Called speed, uppers, goey, whiz, amphetamines are most
commonly injected, with 4.7 per cent of males and 1.7 of females reporting
recent use. A street "deal" costs $100 in Sydney. Again, the market is
difficult to estimate, but is regarded by some police as bigger than either
heroin or cocaine.

ECSTASY: The use of designer drugs doubled in three years to 5.1 per cent of
males and 1.5 per cent of females. Known as ecky, XTC and Adam, the "hug
drug" costs $40-$60 a tab in Sydney and is usually taken orally.

STEROIDS: Use has increased to 3.9 per cent of males and 0.7 per cent of
females.