Pubdate: Mon, 28 Apr 2003
Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Contact:  2003 The Sydney Morning Herald
Website: http://www.smh.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/441
Author: Jacqueline Maley
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)

ECSTASY HAUL WON'T HIT SUPPLIES, WARN EXPERTS

Major seizures of drugs - such as the millions of dollars worth of ecstasy
powder discovered in three imported freezers in Sydney at the weekend - are
important but are unlikely to reduce availability on the streets, experts
warned today.

Hauls such as Saturdays - which the Australian Federal Police claim would be
worth $92 million on the streets - will mean lower quality pills are sold on
the streets, they say.

"A single seizure is unlikely by itself to have a major long term effect,"
said Dr Paul White, former president of the Australian Professional Society
on Alcohol and Other Drugs and a professor at the Department of Pharmacology
at the University of Adelaide. 

Emma Saleeba, the policy officer of the Alcohol and other Drugs Council of
Australia, agrees. 

"History does show that such seizures, while important, tend not to have a
long term effect on total availability, " Salleba said. "Generally we find
that the impact is short lived or pretty minimal." 

If the flow of ecstasy decreases, dealers are more likely to sell pills -
which cost $35-$50 on the streets - cut with higher quantities of speed and
other chemicals used to dilute ecstasy, according to Professor White. 

Speed is cheaper and perceived by users to be an inferior drug, he said. 

While the drug bust would have some effect on supply, ongoing efforts are
needed to stem the flow of ecstasy into the country, he said, adding that
continuous, multiple drug seizures would eventually create a disincentive to
drug traffickers to export to Australia.

But he said the drug market responded quickly to any changes, and a decrease
in imported supply might simply lead to increased local manufacture of the
drug. 

The drug market is notoriously difficult to monitor, and it is impossible to
know how many people use different drugs at any given time. But experts do
know the availability of ecstasy and other drugs fluctuates. 

Both White and Saleeba point to the heroin drought which has affected users
in Australia in the last two to three years. 

While supply control "played a role" in the heroin shortage, Saleeba says it
was only in combination with a multitude of factors, such as poor opium
poppy crops in the Golden Triangle and political upheaval in Afghanistan,
another major heroin producer. 

When the heroin shortage first hit, there was an increase in users seeking
addiction treatment and a huge decrease in the heroin overdose rate was
observed, White said. 

But Saleeba said users often returned to another drug, with cocaine and
morphine common heroin substitutes. 

"There is huge amount of those substances coming into Australia and it's
very hard to keep track," she said. "The law enforcement approach has to
incorporate different ways the drug can be monitored.

"Large seizures shouldn't be seen as a complete and utter total victory." 

Supply control is an important part of the war on drugs but it can't be
relied upon as the solution. 

"A lot more is needed than just taking the drug away."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk