SIGNS OF HEROIN TRADE RETURNING TO 'NORMAL' ON MELBOURNE'S STREETS

Heroin has begun to make a comeback to Melbourne's streets, say youth
workers and drugs counsellors.

David Murray, executive officer of the Youth Substance Abuse Service, said
anecdotal observations suggested there had been a resurgence of the street
heroin trade in recent weeks.

He said the resurgence in trade could be seen in the city, Box Hill,
Dandenong and Frankston.

But Mr Murray is wary of the notion of a "heroin drought" that might soon
break. He points to a theory that the drug's prevalence a few years ago
represented a glut. "So what you're seeing now is a return to a 'normal'
blackmarket arrangement," he said.

Margaret Hamilton, director of the Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre,
said the centre was still recording an increase in calls relating to
amphetamine abuse - a phenomenon that had intensified since the heroin
drought. During the past year, she said, the centre's needle exchange
program in the CBD had revealed more diverse injecting equipment such as
needles with bigger bores, signalling the trend for injecting non-soluble
sleeping pills such as Temazepan.

A government initiative aimed at stopping doctors from prescribing
Temazepan gel caps, which can be mixed with heroin to make an intravenous
cocktail, came into force late last year. Injecting Temazepan can cause
infection, blood clotting, overdose, collapsed veins and epileptic fits.

Meanwhile, research presented yesterday to a Brisbane medical conference
suggests that Naltrexone could be a better treatment for some heroin
addicts than methadone.

The research, by John Saunders from the Alcohol and Drug Studies Unit at
the University of Queensland, found that when used in combination with
"rapid opiate detoxification", Naltrexone offered better results than
methadone. But Professor Saunders said there was one important
qualification: reformed addicts had to remain committed to stick with an
abstinence-treatment regime after giving up heroin.