DEATHS DIVE IN WAR ON HEROIN

MELBOURNE is winning the war on heroin with a dramatic decline in
overdose deaths that has taken narcotics experts and politicians by surprise.

Just nine heroin users have died so far this year, compared with 39
at the same time last year. And the toll is a dramatic turnaround on
1999 when 359 Victorians died from overdoses at a time when
Melbourne's CBD was awash with heroin.

The chairman of the Premier's Drug Prevention Council, Rob Moodie,
said the decline was remarkable.

While some people might have switched to less lethal drugs, he said
stemming drug fatalities was a crucial step.

"If you go by the creed that you can't rehabilitate a dead drug user,
then this is a notion of getting more and more people into treatment,
getting more and more people out of active using is a really good
thing," he said.

John Ryan, chief executive of drugs policy research organisation
Anex, said the reduction was due to factors including:

- -- Education about overdoses, including a big campaign this year via
syringe programs.

- -- Heroin may be passing as the most popular injecting drug in favour
of amphetamines.

- -- A heroin shortage in the first three months this year.

- -- The strength or purity of the available heroin being significantly
lower than a year ago, and way down on its purity at the height of
overdose deaths five years ago.

Dr Moodie said there also had been a decline in the number of
syringes being used.

Police Minister Tim Holding lauded the results. "A lot of different
agencies can share in the credit of what has been achieved so far,
including Victoria Police," Mr Holding said.

"However, we recognise that the drug trade is always evolving and new
substances, many domestically produced, are presenting new challenges."

Health Minister Bronwyn Pike said it was great news and meant the
Bracks Government's investment in rehabilitation and policing was working.

The Department of Human Services' drugs policy branch noted the sharp
decline in the number of syringes distributed to addicts, reporting
that "the decline in demand for sterile injecting equipment in the
March quarter is consistent with reports of reduced heroin
availability and quality for the first three months of 2006".

There was also a steady rise in the number of people receiving
methadone and buprenorphine treatment, with an increase from about
7000 in 2002 to nearly 11,000 this year.

Paul Dietze, from the Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, said
several factors had driven the decline.

"Since the heroin drought in early 2001, the heroin supply has been
pretty variable and also injecting drug users have shifted towards
using other types of drugs, so there is that combination of factors
and more and more people are on methadone," Professor Dietze said.

"There is likely a confluence of factors contributing to it," he
said, and cautioned that it was too early to say whether the war on
heroin was being won.

"I don't think we can be sure at this stage. We have surveillance
mechanisms in place that will tell us more over time. At this stage,
it is just a finding to be welcomed that people aren't dying," he said.

Last week, the Greens announced a policy to "evaluate treatment
programs for heroin-dependent users, including medically supervised
injection spaces".

Greens drugs policy spokeswoman Colleen Hartland said the decline in
overdose deaths "could change in six months" and more work needed to
be done. She said heroin injecting rooms provided broader
opportunities for rehabilitation.

Opposition health spokeswoman Helen Shardey said the decline in
deaths was great news, and indicated Victoria did not require safe
injecting rooms.