HEROIN 'DROUGHT' BROKEN

AUSTRALIA'S heroin drought had broken but availability of the drug was
still off the levels of two years ago, drug experts have said.

A sharp decrease in heroin availability over the past few years, dubbed a
heroin drought, contributed to a significant decrease in deaths from drug
overdoses.

The drought was due to heroin normally destined for Australia finding its
way to other markets, primarily due to a sharp drop in production in
Afghanistan.

However, a drugs conference in London will be told today that heroin
production in Afghanistan had soared by up to 1,400 per cent since the war
on terror and the fall of the Taliban.

Gino Vumbaca, executive officer of the Australian National Council on
Drugs, said anecdotal evidence suggested heroin was becoming more readily
available on Australian streets.

"There is anecdotal evidence from NSW, ACT and Victoria suggesting that the
availability of heroin has been increasing," he told AAP.

"(But) it's still not the same level it was going back a year and a half,
two years ago now."

Mr Vumbaca said information from agencies, such as drug and alcohol
treatment centres, indicated the availability of heroin had been increasing
over the past few months.

"With that goes a decrease in prices ... there are some market forces at
work there, as supply increases, price decreases," he said.

Agencies started reporting greater heroin availability about three or four
months ago.

Mr Vumbaca also noted that Afghanistan was not a major supplier of heroin
to Australia.

Most Afghan heroin was destined for Europe and the United Kingdom.

A spokesman for the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence (ABCI)
backed the suggestion the heroin drought had broken.

"Heroin is becoming more freely available," he said.

ABCI's Australian Illicit Drug Report 2000/01, released in March, found
heroin arrests for the period had dropped to 1995 levels.