The number of people dying from heroin overdose each year rose 700 per cent
in the 15 years to 1995 and may not have peaked, according to an
unpublished government report. The study by the National Drug and Alcohol
Research Centre found the number of deaths from heroin overdose in people
aged 15 to 44 rocketed from 70 in 1979 to 550 in 1995. The heroin death
rate per million adults rose from 10.7 to 67 over the same period. Despite
evidence heroin users are getting younger, the study found older users were
most at risk of overdose. The average age of death from heroin overdose
rose from 24 in 1979 to 30 in 1995. The federal Health department
commissioned the study based on an analysis of national statistics, to help
police and health ministers interpret a broader report on how to arrest the
heroin problem.

Also to be considered by the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy tomorrow
is a plan presented by Victorian Health Minister Rob Knowles to trial four
alternatives to methadone treatment. It would test slowrelease morphine,
which has never before had a clinical trial for its use in the treatment of
addiction, two longacting methadonelike synthetic opiates, LAAM and
buprenorphine, and Naltrexone, which blocks the effect of heroin.