HEROIN DEATHS TUMBLE, BUT STIMULANTS A PROBLEM

VICTORIA leads the world in the fight against heroin, but is
following international trends with an escalation in mental health
problems caused by amphetamines.

A heroin shortage coupled with innovative drug treatment programs has
resulted in Victoria's heroin death toll falling from a peak of 359
in 1999 to nine deaths so far this year.

But drug researchers and police warn against complacency.
International and Australian drug syndicates are diversifying from
heroin production and trafficking into amphetamines.

"This is no time for complacency," said Professor Steve Allsop,
director of the National Drug Research Institute. "We have to be
vigilant about heroin. It is likely to re-emerge at some point and
services and governments have to be prepared for that.

"If heroin became more available tomorrow, we would see an increase
in use, but we would not see a dramatic reduction in the use of amphetamines.

"We have a culture at this moment more attracted to stimulants. If
you are working longer hours and wanting to party all night long, you
are more likely to be attracted to stimulants than depressants," he said.

"Behavioural and mental health problems are on the rise from
amphetamine use, creating a lot of problems for emergency service
workers and police and families."

Professor Allsop credits Victoria's dramatic turnaround in heroin
deaths to Government commitment, better policing and improved drug
treatment programs. "The Government should be patted on the back for
what it has done, and then asked for more," he said.

Less heroin on the streets and increased preference for amphetamines
is also believed to be behind overdose rates falling in Britain and Canada.

The war on terror has also helped reduce heroin deaths. Drug
smugglers have been caught by improved surveillance and international
police co-operation.

"We have been putting a lot more effort into transnational crime
focused on stopping drugs reaching Australia," said a spokesperson
for the Australian Federal Police.

"We have expanded our international liaison network, which means
posting AFP employees in other countries for intelligence sharing
with foreign law enforcement agencies.

"That has been expanded in recent years for the purposes of
counter-terrorism but also drugs."

The federal police now has a network of liaison officers throughout
South-East Asia and has also established offices in Colombia and
Pakistan, the latter also being responsible for monitoring drug
trafficking in Afghanistan.

According to the spokesperson, most recent police seizures have been
of large amounts of pseudoephedrine, which is used to make ecstasy.