MOST HEROIN VICTIMS MEN

MELBOURNE: Heroin overdoses were more likely to be taken by men than women
and occurred more often later in the week, according to statistics issued
yesterday.

The study found 75 per cent of overdose victims were men, and Thursday
was the "peak day" with an average of 60 per cent of overdoses on
Thursdays and Fridays, Turning Point heroin overdose project manager
Dr Paul Dietze said. An average of five heroin overdoses were attended
by the ambulance service each day in Melbourne, the Turning Point
annual report said.

Most Melbourne overdoses occurred in the city centre and the suburban
areas of Collingwood/Fltzroy, St Kilda, Springvale/Dandenong,
Footscray and Frankston.

The picture of heroin overdoses was obtained through a combined
project of Turning Point - a non-government organisation involved in
research, education and treatment of drug problems - and the
Metropolitan Ambulance Service.

"This project shows us the extent of the heroin problem in Melbourne,"
Turning Point's EpiCentre chief Greg Rumbold said.

Other research by Dr Rumbold's team found:

- - the victim's average age was 27.

- - Increased heroin use and more injecting drug users saying heroin was
the first drug they injected.

- - An increase in younger and female heroin users.

- - The expansion of the "street scene" with decreasing heroin prices
and fluctuations in purity.

Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett, who addressed Turning Point's annual
meeting yesterday, warned cheap heroin "of a potency we haven't seen
for a long time" was available on Melbourne streets.

He revealed Victoria would put a further $30 million into its Turning
the Tide program, aimed at combating drug use.

Programs to deal with the "scourge" of drugs had already spent about
$100 million and they would he extended for 12 months to the year 2000.

Mr Kennett also did not rule out a future heroin trial in Victoria,
but said it would have to be in conjunction with other states. "I am
not opposed to it nor do I think it is right that any one city or
state should be trialing it on their own," he said.

"What they tried to do in the ACT, which we supported, should be tried
here and in NSW and South Australia."

But Mr Kennett said such a combined effort would probably not occur in
the near future as it would be difficult to get agreement from all the
states.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry