HEROIN BLIGHTS THE BUSH

One in five NSW heroin deaths now occurs in rural areas, where drug-related
crime is soaring and rehabilitation services cannot cope.

Although Sydney remains the major distribution centre a new analysis of
country drug fatalities shatters the view that "heroin is a Sydney problem",
said Dr Shane Darke, a senior lecturer at the National Drug and Alcohol
Research Centre (NDARC).

A Herald investigation has found that the bush is in silent crisis over the
drug and that its increasing availability has dramatically changed the
social fabric of country towns in the past five years.

Using coroners' records and toxicology reports on heroin overdose deaths
between 1992 and 1996, Dr Darke found that of the 951 Statewide, 182 were in
non-metropolitan areas which had just over a third of the State's
population.

"It's high," he said. "It's surprised me. You wouldn't expect 20 per cent of
the deaths because Sydney is the big drug market."

The director of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Dr Don
Weatherburn, says that where violence and assaults once were the big crimes
associated with alcohol in the bush, the emphasis has shifted to
break-and-enters fuelled by heroin addiction.

Burglary has increased in many of the big country centres which have heroin
problems, with the hardest hit being Dubbo (up 50 per cent in the three
years to 1997), Orange (41) and Coffs Harbour (40).

Sydney is so awash with heroin that it has become readily available in every
country town, said Mr Paul Dillon, information manager with NDARC.

"I recently did a tour of really remote areas and even places which are
little dots on the map had a problem," he said.

NSW Users and AIDS Association surveys show that heroin supply in rural
areas now rarely fluctuates as it did just a few years ago, says the
organisation's co-ordinator, Ms Annie Madden.

"Over the past 12 months particularly, we have noticed a trend for heroin to
be more available," she said. "It is cheaper and the quality has improved.
Rural areas are going along with this trend."

According to Dr Darke's research, the rural "hotspots" for heroin deaths
over the four years surveyed were the far North Coast, with 28 deaths, the
Illawarra with 43, and the Hunter with 33. Lismore had eight deaths, Byron
Bay five and Tweed Heads six.

"The Nimbin rainbow image doesn't fit with these figures," he said. "The far
North Coast is a big drug area generally and you tend to think of marijuana
and smoking hippies. This shows the drug problem is rather more extensive
than that."

The Illawarra probably had a high rate because users could catch the train
to Cabramatta easily. "You get a strong link between heroin markets and the
railways," Dr Darke said.

Central western NSW, including Orange, Dubbo, Wellington and Bathurst, had
17 heroin deaths over the four years, the same number as the Central Coast.

Releasing preliminary results, Dr Darke said 85 per cent of the deaths in
both city and country were among men. Their average age was 30, and of all
the overdoses, only 3 per cent were less than 20 years old."