MORE ADDICTS SEEK TREATMENT

THE number of West Australians seeking help for drug addiction is rocketing.

People with problems associated with alcohol, cannabis, amphetamines and
heroin swallow up the lion's share of treatment services.

While alcohol continues to be the main reason people seek professional help
for an addiction, figures charting the use of programs run by community
drug service teams for the four years to 2001-02 show a shift in illegal
drug use.

People who had a problem with heroin made up 15.4 per cent of those using
community drug service teams in 1998-99, but this figure dropped to just 6
per cent four years later. In contrast, referrals for amphetamine use over
the same period trebled to 21.7 per cent.

Referrals for cannabis use also soared, increasing more than 50 per cent,
but much of this is due to referrals being made by courts since the
introduction of a cannabis cautioning system for people caught with small
amounts of the drug.

Overall, the number of people referred to community drug service teams
jumped 66 per cent to more than 11,000 people in 2001-02.

The statistics are a good guide to the drugs people are using because
community drug service teams are the most public face of drug
treatment. The teams are Government-funded, although many are run by
private agencies.

Pam McKenna, chief executive of private drug treatment agency Palmerston
Associated, said the big increase in people seeking help should not ring
alarm bells. Rather, it was a good sign because it reflected the succes
and increased awareness of drug service teams since they were set up in WA
six years ago.

Ms McKenna said the shift from heroin to amphetamines was partly the result
of a heroin drought. "It is a market-driven economy so if there is not
much heroin around and if you are in the business of selling drugs, you
will promote the business you have got," she said. "Fashions in drug use
change all the time so it is difficult to know how much is market driven
and how much is consumer driven."

Different drugs were popular in different parts of WA, reflecting supply
and demand, with a contrast in the type of referrals Palmerston received at
its Perth centre compared with Albany and Fremantle.

The referral figures are in a new report on drug use compiled by the Health
Department's Drug and Alcohol Office.