MORE THAN A DEATH A DAY

HEROIN has killed 26 people in the first 22 days of this year, with four
fatal overdoses in seven hours on Thursday night.

A man found his 24-year-old girlfriend dead in a Brunswick hotel about 5.45pm.

A 50-year-old man apparently overdosed in his Kilsyth home about 7pm, while
a 28-year-old man was found dead in a Carlton flat about 10pm.

The night ended with a relative's discovery of a dead 27-year-old Northcote
man about 12.30am.

According to Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre's Dr Paul Dietze it was
a typical night.

"The number of overdoses does seem to be increasing over the past few
months," he said.

"You do get more over Christmas and certainly there was a big increase in
1998 over previous years."

Dr Dietze said factors that explained the high number of overdoses included
people taking the drug by themselves and mixing the drug with alcohol or
minor tranquillisers.

"But the price is consistently going down while the purity is remaining
stable or going up," he said.