CHEAP, LETHAL AND EASY TO GET

South Australia has the cheapest and most available amphetamines in the
nation, a new study has found.

Senior police and health officials say amphetamine use has risen to
alarming levels and is no longer restricted to the dance club scene.

More South Australians than ever before are now using amphetamines in pubs
and at home.

The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre study, to be released today,
reveals South Australia was the cheapest for a gram of methamphetamine
powder (speed) at $50.

In Western Australia a gram of speed costs $300.

The 2004 party Drugs Initiative surveyed 850 ecstasy users as well as
health professionals, police and social workers.

In SA 97 per cent of respondents said ecstasy tablets were readily
available at $35 each.

Base amphetamines -- high purity amphetamine paste -- were the easiest to
obtain, with 65 per cent declaring it was "very easy" -- up 25 per cent on
the national average. Only 7 per cent of respondents in WA said it was
"very easy" to obtain base.

National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre information manager Paul Dillon
yesterday said the cost of ecstasy had almost halved in South Australia in
the past decade.

"They really are far more accessible," he said.

The study found ecstasy and other party drugs, such as methamphetamine,
cocaine and LSD, were no longer restricted to the dance club scene of
nightclubs or raves, with a quarter of South Australians surveyed now using
them at pubs. More than half were regularly using them at home or private
parties, the survey said.

Project chief investigator Dr Louisa Degenhardt said the findings
challenged the belief ecstasy and related drugs were only used in a
dance-party setting, which carried different risks compared with nightclub
users.