Superpure heroin claims 20 ACT victims in three weeks
By Peter Clack

Heroin with a deadly purity of 85 per cent is being blamed for a sharp
rise in the number of drug overdoses in Canberra.

The head of Canberra's organised crime and drugs task force, Red Gum,
Superintendent Brian Hepworth, has warned of the lethal batch of
heroin, which is selling cheaply in Canberra at $40 a "cap", or hit.
The Australian Federal Police is boosting the size of Red Gum by 10
per cent as part of a sustained national effort to try to combat a
worrying rise in the importation of heroin.

A national police squad, the Asian Organised Crime Group, has been
formed from agents from the National Crime Authority, AFP and state
police officers.

So far it has set its sights on 30 highprofile Asiam heroin
traffickers.

Police say the heroin coming into Australia in increasing quantities
comes from the Golden Triangle, which straddles Thailand, Burma and
Laos.

Superintendent Hepworth said the heroin circulating in Canberra was
almost certainly from Thailand, and was being brought here by
organised crime gangs from Sydney.

Police say the heroin has been cut only once. Several years ago the
purity would have been about 10 per cent after being cut about 10
times with other substances.

The AFP is responding to the arrival in Canberra of members of the 5T,
an organisedcrime gang based in Cabramatta, which is involved in drug
feuds in Canberra as it tries to gain a foothold.

"We are concerned about the heroin purity and cheapness,"
Superintendent Hepworth said. "The danger is that the drug user
doesn't know the purity of the drug they are using.
"We are fearful for drug users."

So far this year, Red Gum has made 25 arrests. Nine were major
dealers.

Superintendent John Quiggan, of the ACT Ambulance Service, said
paramedics had been called to treat 20 overdose cases in the first
three weeks of September. The average was generally 10 to 15 a month.
Superintendent Quiggan said victims were often unconscious by the time
paramedics got to them, and their breathing was shallow or had ceased.
They would be given airway support, oxygen and the drugreversing
agent, Narcan. After the lifesaving treatment, most just got up and
walked off.

He said the heroin could be mixed with any substance and users were
taking great risks by not knowing what it was.

"It is very dangerous," he said. "There could be any range of other
substances.

"When they buy a hit they have no idea how strong it is."
Superintendent Quiggan urged anyone who was with a user when he or she
overdosed to call 000 at once. The ambulance service operates on an
eight minute response time.