ALARM AT 'DEADLY' HEROIN SOLD IN ACT

Children as young as 12 were among a record 42 heroin overdose victims in
Canberra last month.

Police and the ACT Ambulance Service have now issued a warning of heroin in
unprecedented quantities, deadly purity and cheapness, flooding the market
and leaving young people at risk.

They said 10 users had died from drug overdoses last year, and eight the
previous year. The 42 overdose victims in July compared to only eight for
the same month last year.

They said prohibition was not working and called for new government and
welfare agency strategies to beat the worsening problem.

ACT Justice and Community Safety Minister, Gary Humphries, said the
community was now suffering because the proposed ACT heroin trial had been
stopped last year.

Prime Minister John Howard had called off the trial and and announced a
tougher line on national anti-drugs policing.

Mr Humphries said the trial could have offered some solutions, a register of
drug users and options for them to get off drugs.

"The problem is nearly impossible to resolve," Mr Humphries said.

Other details released yesterday show a foil of heroin, giving two hits, can
be bought for $30. A starter kit costs $10.

Children are offered "smack packs" - a portion of heroin, syringe and
starter kit for $5.

Commander John Dau, head of the Australian Federal Police Regional
Operations, warned of heroin with a fatal purity of 82-85 per cent. "What we
are seeing is a disturbing trend where heroin is cheaper, purer and more
readily available than ever before," Mr Dau said.

He said the rise in the number of overdoses and deaths was unacceptable.

"Without police intervention it would have been worse. This is an ongoing
problem, prohibition by itself is not working."

He said a more fully integrated approach was needed, but promised to
continue to target distributors and importers.

Superintendent Ross Findlay of the ambulance service said victims were often
as young as 12.

He told how paramedics treated the same person three times on the same
night, and that heroin overdoses now accounted for 10 per cent of all
ambulance calls.

Deborah Felton, of the Drug Referral Information Centre, said there were
3391 code names registered for syringes from the needle exchange service.
She said 56 per cent of them were aged under 25. Four years ago only 40 per
cent were under 25.

Ms Felton said many users were homeless and living in unsafe conditions. She
said the rate of heroin use fluctuated in Canberra but "we are aware of
quite a few overdoses". There was little improvement in the options for
people who wanted to get off drugs.

Heroin users were being told waiting times were up to seven weeks for
methadone or two months for entry into the Karralika therapeutic comminity
clinic. "There is always a waiting list," she said. "Many out there will be
sad, lonely, homeless, wet and cold."

The only "good news" was that the rate of increase in the number of people
seeking needles had dropped from 32 per cent in in 1996-97 to 13 per cent in
1997-98.

[A photograph of three well-dressed respectable citizens seated at a
circular table in a lounge room and subtitled:

Drug reform campaigners Rosemary Norman, left, and Brian and Marion
McConnell, who want the laws in Australia changed before drug problems worsen]

[Marion invited me over to be part of the photo, but I had other business at
the time. Rosemary Norman is better looking than me]

Drug law reform group says addicts find help harder to find

"The situation is getting worse rather than better," said the father of a
Canberra youth who died of a heroin overdose.

It has been six years since the family of Brian and Marion McConnell lost
their son, Cliff in tragic circumstances.

Today they belong to the Family and Friends for Drug Law Reform, a group
based in Canberra but with about 300 members from across Australia, which
seeks new ways to deal with illicit drugs and dependent users.

Mr McConnell said crime rates in Canberra were rising and there were more
hold-ups and robberies.

He said this reflected the difficulties drug users faced in getting accepted
into detoxification and methadone programs. He said waiting times were six
weeks or more in Sydney.

"If someone wants to get off drugs they have to go cold turkey," he said. "I
deplore the Prime Minister's decision where he vetoed the heroin trial
without looking at the evidence."

He said there were too few treatment programs available to meet the demand.

Mr McConnell said the Australian Federal Police had stopped attending
reports of heroin overdose victims as a result of the family's experience.
Cliff had been taken to hospital and when he woke up police were there to
interview him. He had left Canberra out of a feeling of shame.

AFP Commander Dau said yesterday that anyone requiring urgent medical
treatment for a drug overdose could contact the ACT Ambulance Service,
without fear of police being informed, on triple 0.

But information about those suspected of distributing illegal drugs could be
given anonymously to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett