LIVER LINK IN HEROIN DEATHS

THE mystery of long-term heroin users dying by overdose despite
experience with the drug may have been solved by a study linking
overdoses with liver disease.

Researchers have puzzled for years about why heroin users defy the
laws of experience and mortality that apply to others who practise
risky activities - the older and wilier you become, the more likely
you are to survive.

Instead, heroin overdoses are more likely to occur among people who
have used the drug in a similar way for many years.

The NSW Drug and Alcohol Research Council investigated 841 deaths
caused by opioid toxicity and found a 10th of those aged 35 to 44 and
a quarter of those older than 44 had been diagnosed with cirrhosis.

This could make them more susceptible to overdose, said Professor
Shane Darke, of the Drug and Alcohol Research Council at the University of NSW.

"They've got these phenomenally high rates of ... liver disease," Dr
Darke said. "If they hadn't died of overdose, they would have died of
cirrhosis."

A 70 per cent incidence of hepatitis C and a high rate of alcohol
consumption may account for the likelihood of liver disease, the
study said. Nearly a quarter of those studied had multiple-organ
disease. "They're drinking, they're using heroin frequently, their
bodies are just wearing out," Dr Darke said.

The council's information manager, Paul Dillon, said the study
confirmed the importance of getting young users into early treatment.
"The trouble is, treatment is not particularly attractive to young
people," Mr Dillon said. "And you see these [problems] 15 years down
the track."

The latest figures show that 357 Australians died of heroin and
opioid overdose in 2004. Those aged 25-34 comprised the biggest group
at 43 per cent, followed by people aged 35 to 44 (28 per cent), 45 to
54 (18 per cent) and 15 to 24 (10 per cent).