HEROIN CRISIS: MORE PEOPLE WILL DIE

POLICE have warned more people will die as society struggles to stem
the spiralling problem of heroin use on the island.

Senior officers admitted to the Sunday Mail that they were extremely
concerned about the growing drugs crisis, with heroin use on the
island rising at an alarming rate.

Police Commandant Sotiris Tryfonos cautioned it had still not yet been
proved if the two men who died over the weekend had been killed by a
heroin overdose or a doctored dose of the drug. Another two heroin
users are understood to have died this week.

"There is as yet no scientific proof or conclusive findings to reach
an accurate cause of death. But we do know that the two men were
heroin users, so it is suspected that they died of the drug. We must,
however, wait for the results," said Tryfonos.

The senior officer admitted police were extremely concerned about the
current drugs situation in Cyprus, with statistics showing a sharp
increase in the number of heroin users on the island.

"We have recorded a rise in drug-related arrests in the last two years
and feel the main problem is that people are not well enough informed
about the dangers of the highly addictive, poisonous narcotic," said
Tryfonos.

He said even though the police were doing all they could to prevent,
help and lessen (if not eliminate) drug use, the crisis was a
worldwide phenomenon, which had now finally caught up with Cyprus.

Police now make drugs related arrests on a daily basis.

"Unfortunately, drug abuse is something we cannot avoid. Twenty or 30
years ago young kids used to smoke cigarettes to be cool. Now,
however, they are tempted by hard drugs heroin, ecstasy and cocaine,"
he said.

Tryfonos stressed the importance of families and schools playing an
active part in youngsters' lives to educate and inform them on the
dangers of drugs. He added that most drugs-related arrests of
youngsters (although not all) involved people from broken homes or who
were uneducated about drugs.

"But don't be fooled into thinking that only youngsters from poor or
broken homes will be lured into taking drugs. It is all about parents
being present, who play an active role in their children's lives,"
said Tryfonos.

The drugs problem in Cyprus has yet to reach the international scale,
as seen in larger countries. "In other countries, hundreds of people
die every day from drugs," said Tryfonos.

"It is unavoidable that someone using heroin for a long period of time
will eventually become dependent on the drug and die, unless they seek
help," he said, either through an OD, an impure dose or from
withdrawal symptoms, which could cause heart failure. Tryfonos
stressed that his intention was not to terrify people or use scare
tactics to keep youngsters away from drugs, but simply to tell the
truth. "Taking heroin is a one-way road with no return."

Police have been campaigning to reduce the number of heroin users and
catch the big fish, the dealers responsible for supplying people with
the potentially lethal drug. "We want to educate people on the dangers
of drugs and we aim to put away dealers who make a living out of
poisoning others," said Tryfonos.

When arresting heroin users, police rarely put them behind
bars.

Tryfonos said police viewed drug addicts as people who were ill and
needed treatment. "We get them the best help we can, by getting them
into a rehabilitation programme." Tryfonos explained it was the
police's job, however, to arrest anyone who broke the law, and since
heroin was an illegal drug, the users must be taken to court.

Most heroin users are between the age of 20 and 35. "We do get the odd
teenager who injects heroin, but rarely."

Justice Minister Doros Theodorou on Tuesday stated that the main drug
dealers were known by the police and were being monitored.

BUT where are the drugs actually coming from? Deputy chief of police
Sotiris Charalambous told the Sunday Mail the biggest heroin dealers
were Russian Pontians, while those most known for selling cannabis
were Turks.

"The heroin sold in Cyprus comes mostly from Greece and the north.
Some small quantities of heroin come from EU countries, but that is
only when people are travelling to Cyprus by air," said
Charalambous.

He insisted police were monitoring the drugs problem as much as they
possibly could. "We catch the users in order to get to the big fish.
But we can only do so much," he said. Charalambous said the police
could not check every passenger that arrived on the island. He
believes that the main problem is not the police, as they are doing
their best, but rather a broader problem of social apathy.

"What do the Church, the schools and parents do to prevent and help
reduce the drugs problem? Nothing. No parent believes their child
could get caught up in the drugs world," he said.

Charalambous stressed parents were quick to blame the police and
society for the drugs problem spiralling out of control, but refused
to look at themselves and what role they played in their children's
lives.

"For example," he said, "on one occasion we found 15-year-old minors
at a nightclub and we called their parents to notify them. The parents
then asked why we had disturbed them at 3am to tell them their
children were still out.

"I mean, this is unacceptable and proves how little some parents
care," said Charalambous.

The only time parents seem to care about the drugs problem is when it
hits them personally with their own children taking drugs.

But Charalambous said there was a misconception about the issue of
doctored heroin on the island. "There is indeed doctored heroin on the
market in Cyprus, but people are being mislead to believe that
doctored heroin is more dangerous than pure heroin," he said.

"First, almost all heroin is doctored, as pure heroin is far too
expensive and impure heroin goes a lot further. But doctored heroin is
only more dangerous if it is mixed with a poisonous substance," said
Charalambous.

He added it was not usually the big dealers who mixed their heroin,
but users themselves who wanted to make some extra cash to support
their habit.

"What happens is that a user buys five grams of heroin for UKP 300.
Then they will mix it with another substance to make seven grams, keep
the five grams and sell the other two to someone else," said
Charalambous.

He said the reason dealers wouldn't sell doctored heroin was that
their clients would then go to someone else. "This is frightening, but
it is true and the problem must no longer be put on the back burner."

Health Minister Dina Akkelidou said on Tuesday that drugs experts
would be arriving in Cyprus from Greece later in the year to help
clamp down on the drugs problem plaguing the island.

According to Akkelidou, the government's goal is to force society into
accepting there is a drugs problem in Cyprus.

"Drugs concern everyone and every parent's children," said
Akkelidou.

The establishment of a rehabilitation clinic for minors is on the
cards, but Akkelidou said there was not enough nursing staff and it
had not yet been determined whether it would be an outpatient clinic
or not.

This is why the experts are coming to Cyprus to study all the facts
and make suggestions. The experts will also inspect the current
clinics, Anosi in Limassol and Pyxida in Nicosia.

"When I first discovered heroin I though I had found my place. "I
thought that I could keep it under control.

"But I became addicted and wanted more and more."

This is the testimony of a recovering heroin addict, a 28-year-old man
who spoke to the Sunday Mail about his struggle to recover from the
grasp of drugs.

The man said getting hold of heroin was easier than finding cannabis,
a far less addictive narcotic that was once the police's main concern.

"Now police have something more worrying on their hands, a
highly-addictive, life ruining and dangerous drug, heroin."

The man said that he needed a hit every day and when he could no
longer function or work, he decided that he finally needed help and
went to the Pyxida rehabilitation clinic in Deftera.

He said there was doctored heroin on the market and what shocked him
the most looking back was how his dealer was selling heroin to a
14-year-old.

"When I think back I was so desperate for my hit that I didn't even
think about what was really going on. A grown man should not be
selling heroin to a child.

"But I didn't care then. All I wanted was to get my dose," he
revealed.

He said that as long as dealers got their money they didn't care, but
they were also careful who they supply to. "You have to be a friend of
a friend or be trusted. The dealers don't want to get caught by the
police and very often it's the users who are arrested. The dealers get
off scot-free."

The man, who has now been clean for two months, said the drugs world
was a dark and terrifying place, constantly being swept under the rug
by Cyprus society.

"We need to wake up to the fact that Cyprus is not as it was 20 years
ago. People will be tempted by drugs, whether from a good family or a
broken home. They must be educated on the dangers and one advert on
television once every three days does not cut it," he said. The man no
longer hangs out with his old friends, who also dabbled in heroin. He
is holding down a new job and even though he is still tempted to
return to his addiction, he is determined not to.

"This time I'll make it," he said.