HEROIN: THE TOLL KEEPS GROWING

Australia's heroin death toll has soared by 73 per cent over the past
decade, a study to be released today reveals.

The report, the latest snapshot of Australia's spiralling drugs
problem, shows that 600 Australians died from opiate overdoses in
1997. Most overdosed on heroin.

Drug and alcohol researchers said yesterday there appeared to be no
foreseeable ceiling on the number of overdose deaths. And they warned
the death rate appeared to be increasing faster in Australia than in
other comparable countries, including England. The report provides
further evidence that the number of heroin deaths is fast catching up
with the road toll.

In 1997, 168 Victorians (aged 15-44) died from heroin overdoses.
Figures obtained by The Age from the Transport Accident Commission
show that 191 young Victorians (aged 16-40) were killed on the roads
in 1997. The national drugs report, prepared by the National Drug and
Alcohol Research Centre and based on Australian Bureau of Statistics
records, found nearly half the heroin deaths in Australia in 1997 were
in New South Wales (292 deaths), while 28 per cent of the deaths were
in Victoria.

The report also reveals that opioid overdose (mainly heroin) has
become one of the leading killers of young Australians; responsible
for nearly one in 10 deaths of Australians aged 15 to 34.

Other key findings include:

At least five men die from a heroin overdose for every female heroin
overdose death in Victoria,

There were 80.3 heroin overdose deaths per million Victorians in
1997,

The heroin death rate in Victoria has climbed steadily each year since
1991, when 63 people had a fatal heroin overdose, Fatal overdose
victims are getting older; in 1995 they averaged 30.6 years.

Deaths among new users are increasing.

A researcher from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, Dr
Shane Darke, said it was extremely worrying that heroin use was today
much less marginalised than it used to be.

Dr Darke said injecting heroin was like playing Russian Roulette.
``Every time you inject heroin you are taking a risk that you will
die. Anyone who tells you there's a safe way to inject heroin, well,
that's a lie,'' he said.

And he strongly warned young people against experimenting with heroin.
``I have read hundreds and hundreds of coronial files on overdose
fatalities. I don't see how anyone can say that lying dead in a pool
of vomit and blood is fashionable - it's just beyond me. Anyone who
regards heroin as a chic drug has never known anyone who is dependent
on it or has died on it,'' Dr Darke said.

The report suggested a number of explanations for Australia's
burgeoning heroin death toll. They included the substantial increase
in the number of heroin users, evidence that heroin purity had
increased in recent years and changes in drug use.

Dr Darke said taking heroin alongside other drugs made heroin even
more deadly.

The study recommended that the community needed to improve its
response to drug overdoses. The researchers also suggested a trial of
wider distribution of the heroin antidote, naloxone, which is now
carried by ambulance crews right across Melbourne.

Professor Greg Whelan, the director of the drug and alcohol service at
St Vincent's Hospital, said he was disturbed by the report.

``We need a lot more public education and individual education about
risks as well as long-term harm of using the stuff, in addition to the
efforts of governments to reduce supply,'' he said.

Professor Whelan also said the escalating toll was one of the social
consequences of high youth unemployment.

The new study follows a report in The Age yesterday showing that the
number of Victorians suffering near-fatal heroin overdoses and
incurring permanent brain damage had jumped dramatically in recent
years.