Pubdate: Mon, 26 Feb 2001 Source: Herald Sun (Australia) Copyright: 2001 News Limited Contact: PO Box 14999, Melbourne City, MC 8001 Australia Fax: (03) 9292 2112 Website: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ Author: Geoff Wilkinson CALM BEFORE DEADLY DRUG STORM THE inevitable end to Victoria's heroin drought would see users dropping like flies, police and heroin addicts warned yesterday. ``The best we can hope for is that our intelligence is good enough to be able to warn the community before the bodies start hitting the pavement,'' the state's top detective said. Assistant Commissioner (Crime) George Davis said significant disruptions to supply and a sharp fall in the purity of the little heroin available was responsible for the recent drop in overdose deaths. Eight deaths have been reported in seven weeks so far this year compared with an average of more than six a week last year. Mr Davis said police were pleased with the falling death rate, but knew it would not last. He said there had been a significant reduction of heroin availability throughout Australia in recent months. Undercover police in Melbourne found it hard to buy an ounce of heroin last week for $5000. ``It was very hard to find, and when we had it analysed it was only 8 per cent pure. Only three months ago heroin on the street was 60 to 70 per cent purity. ``There's next to none out there. ``But when supply comes back, as it inevitably will, people who are pumping the 8 per cent solution into their veins and suddenly get an 80 per cent solution, will be overdosing''. Heroin addicts in Springvale told the Herald Sun many users would not be able to cope when supplies and purity returned to previous levels. ``They'll be dropping like flies when it comes back on,'' one said. ``A lot just won't know what's hit them.'' He said the price of heroin on the street had trebled since before Christmas. Fights had become common among frustrated addicts, and some had begun injecting a prescription sedative gel with low purity heroin to boost the effect. Mr Davis said many addicts had become multi-drug users because of the shortage. ``They're also becoming desperate for the money to buy the amount of drugs they need to get their fix, because an 8 per cent hit is not going to do what they need,'' he said. ``They're having three or four hits where they used to have one, and their criminal activity to support their habit has increased.'' The most obvious result of the heroin drought has been the recent dramatic escalation in holdups on convenience stores and other ``soft'' targets. Mr Davis said police had ``taken out two significant supply links'' with the recent arrests of two Sydney dealers. Eight kilograms of heroin bound for Melbourne, and several hundred thousand dollars, was seized from one dealer. Major offshore seizures by federal police mobile strike teams late last year included 357kg of heroin in Fiji, 200,000 ecstasy tablets, 3000kg of cannabis and 100kg of cannabis resin in the Netherlands and 142kg of the amphetamine ``ice'' in Malaysia. Mr Davis said although the local heroin trade was its quietest for five years, there was a high demand for ecstasy and increasing traffic in cocaine. Mr Davis said he thought his Chief Commissioner's strategy to focus on drug education, early intervention and diversion was ``right on the knocker''. ``If we can reduce the demand, and restrict the supply, we're well on the way to winning the game. ``If the demand is significantly reduced over the next 10 years, and the profit is removed from it, we'll be a far better place than most other countries,'' he said. A former assistant commissioner in charge of the state's traffic policing strategy, he said he did not think TAC-style scare tactics would work with drug addicts. ``People with a drug habit often have no respect and they don't care if they live or die, so to try and frighten them off is not the way to go,'' he said. ``The way to go in my view is to get in early and give them the self-respect and self-esteem that will give them the will to live their life to the full.'' `We know prevention works if there is a long-term community support of it. Schools need to be resourced and have the capacity to do it. Preventive programs must be our primary focus. But the political agenda has not focused on it' ~ Glenn Bowes, Royal Children's Hospital general manager, Youth Substance Abuse Service chairman `It's just so important for the fabric of Victorian youth that we get this right, and it's got to be a long-term plan, definitely not a term of office plan. I think it's a terrific idea. I really encouraged Neil to go on with it and I think everybody will support it. Everyone should give this 100 per cent, not 99' ~ Kevin Sheedy, Essendon coach and father `I totally endorse the Chief Commissioner's initiative. His priorities are right. What will be important is to agree on substantial things to cut demand. There should be massive community support for that. The drive towards appropriate education is one thing we could agree on' ~ Catholic Archbishop, George Pell `This ought to bring people together. There ought to be a consensus right across the community because this is a community-wide problem. It's a great initiative and I'm very impressed that a person with his hands-on knowledge of what's going on, the realities, is bringing forward something that I would hope gets people together' ~ Anglican Archbishop, Peter Watson `Melbourne and Victoria is, at best, not even holding the tide much less turning the tide. If ever there was a time for an apolitical parliamentary approach to an issue, it's this one. The momentum, in terms of finding better and more effective ways, has certainly declined. I'm 100 per cent behind him' ~ Ivan Deveson former Lord Mayor, chairman of Mary Of The Cross Centre - --- MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe