ANTI-DRUG CAMPAIGN NEEDED, SAYS JUDGE

The number of heroin-related deaths is outstripping the road
toll.

A County Court judge yesterday backed an advertising campaign to stem
heroin abuse after four more Victorians died from overdoses on
Thursday night.

The state's death toll from overdoses this year now stands at 26,
which is more than twice the road toll of 12.

The deaths of three men and a woman took place over a six-hour period,
with three of the victims dying in their own homes.

Chief Inspector John McKoy, of the drug squad, yesterday described the
deaths as a ``very disturbing trend''.

Mr McKoy said one problem was the higher rate of heroin purity, which
had jumped from about 30 per cent to between 70 and 90 per cent, a
level that should be regarded as ``extremely toxic''. He said the
woman who died on Thursday had not used heroin for two years.

Judge Michael McInerney urged the Government to boost its campaign
against heroin while sentencing two heroin-addicted armed robbers.
``What these courts see every day are young people, perhaps without
any real forethought or understanding, suddenly catapulted into the
world of drugs,'' he said.

The judge said he supported the suggestion of a clinical director at
the Western General Hospital, Dr Joseph Epstein, who called for an
anti-drug campaign similar to that for drink-driving.

``I would strongly endorse the views of Dr Epstein that a similar
campaign with similar resources should be considered to try and stem
the scourge of heroin in our community,'' he said.

He described one of the offenders before him, Carly Louise Marsh, 18,
as a ``classic example'' of the ``sorry tale of woe these courts hear
daily in regard to heroin''.

Judge McInerney said Marsh had wasted a $9000 inheritance over six
weeks to buy heroin for herself and her boyfriend, Jeremy Jack
Edwards, 26. When the money ran out, the pair, who had no prior
convictions, resorted to armed robbery.

Marsh, of Atkin Road, Hoppers Crossing, pleaded guilty to one count of
attempted armed robbery and received a two-year community-based order.
Edwards, of Rupert Street, West Footscray, pleaded guilty to one count
of armed robbery and one count of attempted armed robbery and received
a 30-month jail term suspended for three years.

The death rate this year is considerably higher than last year, when a
record 250 people died of overdoses. By contrast, the road toll was
389.

A senior researcher at the Turning Point Drug and Alcohol Centre, Mr
Greg Rumbold, said deaths from heroin overdoses had exploded in the
'90s and showed no sign of slowing down. He said 49 people died of
overdose in 1991 and by 1997 that figure had risen to 168.