HEROIN FLOW CUT BUT OTHER DRUG USE ON RISE

INTERNATIONAL cooperation by law enforcement agencies is stemming the flow
of heroin imports to Australia, but the use of other illicit drugs is on
the rise, according to a government report.

During 2000, Australian enforcement agencies working with Asian, Canadian,
New Zealand and US authorities made major heroin seizures in Asia and the
Pacific region. Between October and December 2000 more than half a tonne
was snared in a string of major hauls.

The heroin came mostly from opium fields run by local warlords of the
so-called "Golden Triangle," the border area of Thailand, Burma and Laos.

"These interventions are believed to have disrupted the small number of
criminal groups capable of importing large shipments from the Golden
Triangle to Australia," the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence
report said.

Customs Minister Chris Ellison said more intensive patrols along
Australia's vast coastline had increased detection rates every year but one
over the past decade, also reducing the amount of heroin reaching the streets.

"This shortage has coincided with a significant drop in deaths due to
overdose, a reported rise in price and decrease in street purity," Ellison
said.

In the year to June 30, 2001, arrests of users and dealers in Australia
fell 34.1 per cent to 7396 from 11,223 the previous year.

Drops in heroin imports were also partly credited to the Taliban's
crackdown on opium harvests in Afghanistan in the years before the hardline
Islamic regime was toppled in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks.

However, the successes against heroin were partly contributing to a
dangerous rise in use of other drugs such as marijuana, amphetamines and
cocaine, said ABCI chairman Malcolm Hyde.

The use of ecstasy was on the rise, with customs seizures more than
doubling in the past year to 338kg in the past year.