BIG JUMP IN HEROIN DEATHS IN THE BUSH

The higher cost of amphetamines is a key factor in the increase,
police say.

Fatal heroin overdoses in regional Victoria increased by almost
two-and-a-half times last year. Figures from the state coroner
indicate that heroin-related deaths in regional areas jumped to their
highest level last year after falling to a three-year low in 1997.

By the end of November, the coroner had been advised of 34
heroin-related deaths in country Victoria compared with 14 in 1997.

The lowest number of deaths in country Victoria in the 1990s was two
in 1993. The pre-1998 peak was 21 in 1996, the coroner's office said.

A breakdown shows that the Bendigo postal region (including Mildura
and Echuca) had the highest number of heroin-related deaths last year.

The Coroner's Office said there were 11 deaths in the Bendigo zone and
10 in the Geelong postal region.

Bendigo, which had no heroin-related deaths in 1991, 1992 and 1993,
had four in 1994, three in 1995 and two in 1996 and 1997.

The head of the drug squad, Chief Inspector John McKoy, said more
expensive amphetamines and cheaper heroin were the main factors behind
the rise in heroin use in country areas.

``The regional centres have been reasonably protected from the heroin
trade for some years,'' he said, ``but our figures show there has been
a marked increase in the three main regional centres: Bendigo,
Ballarat and Geelong.

``In part it is due to the decline in other drugs. There is not the
same quantity of amphetamines, which are now very expensive, entering
these areas.''

The Bendigo region has a growing underclass, the 1996 census data
indicating that its Eaglehawk area is the most deprived in country
Victoria.

Grouping data on income, unemployment, occupation, educational levels
and other factors, the Bureau of Statistics ranked Eaglehawk as the
most socially and economically disadvantaged place in Victoria apart
from Footscray and Sunshine.

The coroner's figures show that heroin deaths in the Geelong region
(all of Victoria's west coast and inland to Hamilton) were 10 last
year and three in 1997.

The number of heroin deaths in the Gippsland region (the state's east
coast and the La Trobe Valley) rose from two in 1997 to seven last
year.

Fatal overdoses in the Ballarat postal region (the central west),
increased from four in 1997 to five last year.

The Seymour region (central Victoria covering Benalla, Wangaratta and
Wodonga) was the only area to record a decline - one death in 1998
against four in 1997.

The drug squad said it believed increasing purity was contributing to
the rise in overdoses. Police estimated that street-level heroin was
70 to 80 per cent pure compared with 10 per cent in 1991.

The increases in rural heroin-related deaths coincided with a big
increase in fatal overdoses in Melbourne, where more than 250 people
died last year.

A study by the department of forensic medicine at Monash University
indicates that there were 49 heroin-related deaths in 1991 and 186 in
1997. The average age of victims was 27. Almost half were unemployed
and alone when they died.