DRUG OVERDOSE RISE TIPPED

DRUG authorities are prepared for an increase in drug overdoses, after nine
heroin deaths were recorded last December.

Terry Murphy, who runs the WA Drug Abuse Strategy Office, said December was
a particularly dangerous month.

To the end of last week, there had been 68 heroin deaths for the year,
compared with 77 at the same time last year. By December 31 last year, 85
West Australians had lost their lives through the use of heroin.

The Alcohol and Drug Authority's annual report, tabled in State Parliament
last week, shows a big increase in the number of heroin users on methadone
programs.

More than 1900 people attended authority clinics and qualified general
practitioners to receive doses of methadone. Almost 125,000 doses were
administered last financial year.

In 1992-1993, there were only 800 people on methadone treatment programs.

ADA manager Carlo Calogero said more people were becoming dependent on heroin.

At the same time, the availability of methadone treatment was expanding
with local GPs, as well as government clinics, able to treat heroin
addicts. Mr Calogero said the fact people remained on methadone was
positive because it kept them away from street drugs.

But Mr Murphy and Mr Calogero agreed that a big increase in the number of
calls to the ADA about amphetamines indicated a possible increase in the
use of that drug in recent months.

The ADA received 3444 calls from concerned parents, relatives and friends
of drug users, as well as users themselves.

There was a 16.7 per cent increase in amphetamine-related calls and one in
five calls related to heroin use. But calls about alcohol use dropped 30
per cent on the previous year and while cannabis-related calls fell
marginally, they made up almost 20 per cent of all calls.

The suburbs where most calls came from were Fremantle, Joondalup, Morley,
Rockingham, Hamilton Hill and Mandurah.

Mr Murphy said drug users should not mix drugs.

The grade of heroin on the streets was unpredictable.

He said his office was monitoring the use of cocaine, after a big rise in
its use in the eastern States recently.

Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson