EASY STREET FOR HARD DRUGS

HARD drugs such as heroin and speed are readily available in Adelaide.

Inquiries by The Advertiser suggest most users have "contacts" from whom
they can easily buy drugs such heroin.

Some dealers are also known to sell drugs in and around hotels, although the
risk of being caught is far higher.

Heroin sells for about $50 a "cap'; a small quantity packaged for individual
sale. Amphetamine which is taken by many first-time injecting drug users,
who then move to heroin can be bought for about $80 a gram.

And, The Advertiser has been told some dealers offer discounts to get users
hooked on the drug.

Once they are hooked the price is increased and many addicts turn to crime
to feed their hablt

It is believed the State has a minimum of 5000 illicit drug users and
possibly as many as l5,000.

In the past financial year, 1.7 million syringes had been distributed
through 191 needle exchange venues across South Australia.

Dr Jason White, from Adelaide University's Department of Pharmacology, said
heroin use seemed to have become fashionable" in recent years.

This may be the result of attention heroin has received in movies such as
Trainspotting or Pulp Fiction or even the fashion industry's controversial
"heroin chic".

"There has been quite a bit of attention and it is a bit hard to know which
comes first," Dr White sald. "From talking to younger users, more are
experimenting."

The average age of a first-time user is 20, while the average age of an
addict is about 30.

It is estimated about 61 per cent of injecting drug users are male, half
have committed crimes to support their habit and 31 per cent have served
tune in prison. About 36 per cent of addicts are unemployed but 67 per cent
have had some forn of tertiary education.

He said with Adelaide's increased heroin use had also come increased purity
in the drug. This may explain a higher incidence of overdoses.

"One of the things that can trip up heroin users is the purity, if they are
used to 40 or 50 per cent and then get a batch which is 90 per cent pure,"
he said.

Checked-by: Don Beck