DRUG USE PUTS US IN STONED STATE

CANNABIS remains the drug of choice for West Australians, who continue to
smoke it more than the average Australian.

West Australians also use other illicit drugs more than people in other States.

Survey results included in a new report of drug use indicators show 17.5
per cent of people had used cannabis in the past year in WA as opposed to
12.9 nationally. In this State 3.9 per cent had used other illicit drugs
in the past year compared with 3.5 across Australia.

Indicators of Drug Use: Regional and State Profiles, to be released this
week, gives a comprehensive picture of drug use in WA for the first time.

WA researchers say there is no single reason for the State's higher drug use.

Drug and Alcohol Office practice development director Professor Steve
Allsop said patterns of drug use could be sporadic.

"You can have very rapid reductions in drug use because of availability
changes and you can have rapid increases, so over the last three to four
years we have seen a huge decrease ... in heroin but we have seen an
increase in ... amphetamines," Professor Allsop said.

"Part of that is some people, if they can't get one drug, they will shift
to another."

A drug's popularity could also change depending on lifestyles. If drug
users wanted to keep partying they would choose a stimulant like
amphetamines rather than a depressant such as heroin.

National Drug Research Institute senior research fellow Simon Lenton, said
WA's generally younger population could also affect drug use.

"In part, big spaces with lots of places to grow cannabis and in part being
separated by a lot of the other illicit drug markets by a desert," he said.

He said the biggest shift in drug use in recent years had been the decline
in heroin use and the switch to amphetamines. This followed historical
trends where use of heroin and other depressants was followed by the use of
stimulants.

"The last stimulant cycle began in the early 1990s until the mid-90s and
then heroin came back," Mr Lenton said.