STATISTICS POINT TO DRUG DEATH DROP

SYDNEY - Emphasis on treatment and helping addicts turn their lives around
has led to a drop in heroin overdose deaths in NSW, the state government
said today.

Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and National
Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) for the year 2000 showed a 38 per
cent decrease in heroin overdose deaths in NSW in the key 15 to 44-year age
group, Special Minister of State John Della Bosca said.

While it was not possible to attribute individual causes to the turnaround,
the government's commitment to the recommendations of the 1999 drug summit
played a big part, he said.

"There's no doubt that the NSW government drug summit ... and the $176
million committed to the summit's recommendations have contributed to
improvements to the drug outcomes everywhere," he said.

"We're happy that the emphasis on treatment, the emphasis on diverting
people out of the crime/drug cycle into treatment, getting them off drugs,
allowing them opportunities to to turn their lives around, may be a
significant part of the explanation for a ... very major decrease in heroin
overdose deaths in NSW."

Mr Della Bosca said initiatives like the youth drug court was the sort of
thing the government thought was "making real progress".

"What we're trying to concentrate on is finding out those things that are
working best, most cost-efficiently and concentrate on those things that
save lives and turn lives around," he said.

The NSW drug summit, touted by Premier Bob Carr as a "a no-holds barred,
non-party examination of the drug problem", was held in May 1999.

It included addresses to parliament, working groups, panel discussions and
field trips, with about 60 drug experts, community leaders, families and
interest groups participating.