ADDICTS OPT FOR HEROIN SUBSTITUTES

Tight Supply Pushes Users To Opiates, Ecstasy, Says Report

AUSTRALIA'S deepening heroin drought coincides with an increase in
clandestine amphetamine production and abuse of prescription drugs,
according to the latest Australian Crime Commission report on illicit drugs.

The 2001-02 report released yeterday said a 56 per cent decrease in
heroin-related arrests, as well as a steady fall in the amount of heroin
being seized in Australia, demonstrated a depressed supply of the drug
across the country.

Almost 420kg of heroin was intercepted by Customs officers last financial
year, with 378kg seized in a single operation in Brisbane.

The scarcity of heroin had seen increasing numbers of drug users supplement
their intake with prescription drugs, usually by persuading doctors to
prescribe them opiates or depressants for a range of fake illnesses.

The report said that almost 60 per cent of injecting drug users had used
depressants recently to supplement their drug use, with 23 per cent using
pharmaceutical opiates and 18 per cent using morphine.

"The line between drug of choice and drug of availability is becoming
increasingly indistinct," the report said.

In contrast, increased use and potency of amphetamines was reported by
police and health agencies across Australia in 2001-02.

Two hundred and forty clandestine amphetamine production labs were
discovered in 2001-02 - a fourfold increase on 1996-97 and up 19 per cent
on the previous year.

Nearly 140 of these - including Australia's first crystalline
methyl-amphetamine laboratory - were in Queensland, while 29 were found in WA.

The report also said that tighter restrictions on the sale of chemicals
needed for amphetamine production were driving drug manufacturers to more
desperate measures, including stealing from pharmaceutical companies and
importing pseudoephedrines from overseas.

There also had been an increase in the number of mobile labs found in
shops, self-storage units and hotel rooms, which were used as a short-term
base to manufacture and distrubute the drug.

The report identified the synthetic party drug GHB - or liquid ecstasy - as
a likely growth area for drug suppliers because it was easy to produce and
the base chemicals were readily available.