HAUL MAY HIT STREET TRADE

The seizure of heroin worth $400million by police this week would cut the
number of recreational users and children able to get access to the drug,
and also the number of overdoses, an ambulance officer said yesterday.

Mr Nick Roder, an intensive care paramedic who has attended hundreds of
heroin overdoses, said the 400-kilogram haul would restrict street supplies
and force prices up, putting it out of the reach of occasional users.

``Over the eight years of my career I've seen the price of heroin plummet
to a sixth of its original price and that makes it a marketable
commodity,'' he said.

``The great thing about (the seizure) ... is we've got a lot of potential
now of cracking that price on the head. It's just going to be too expensive
for those recreational users. That's lives saved.''

Launching an information pamphlet to help heroin users and their friends
and families in cases of overdose, Mr Roder said more deaths could be
prevented if users were taught how to avoid an overdose and other people
knew what to do if they were confronted by one. He said too often ambulance
paramedics saw people die needlessly because they were alone when they
injected heroin or because their friends or family did not know how to help
them.

The ambulance service attends, on average, 12 heroin overdoses a day. Last
year, 168 people died because they overdosed on heroin.

Anyone seeking a copy of the pamphlet should contact the Metropolitan
Ambulance Service.