Spike in drug-treatment seekers
A NSW drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre has experienced a spike in the number of people seeking treatment for amphetamine-type stimulants.
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heroin
The following articles have the tag heroin
Lung damage warning for users who smoke injectable drugs
AN AUSTRALIAN trend for drug users to smoke rather than inject drugs like crack cocaine, methamphetamines and heroin will lead to serious lung damage, a UK expert warns.
Community naloxone gets green light in ACT
AUSTRALIA'S first program aimed at reducing heroin overdose mortality by using naloxone in the community has been given the green light.
The sharp end of healthcare
Its worth has been proved, but 11 years on, the Sydney injecting room is still copping flack. Andy Kollmorgen reports.
New evidence prescription opioid use is rising
PRESCRIPTION opioids overtook methadone in 2007 to become the third most commonly injected drug, behind heroin and methamphetamine, a survey of 10,000 participants in the Australian Needle and Syringe Program reveals. While methadone injection rates remained stable at around 9%, injecting rates of opioids rose from 9% in 2005 to 16% in 2009. Dr Alex Wodak, director of the Alcohol and Drug Service at Sydney’s St. Vincent's Hospital, said the findings reflected a steady rise in prescription opioid use in Australia. “We are slowly heading to the situation in the US where, since 2000, overdose deaths ...
Research shows changing pattern of illicit drug use
A REDUCTION in the supply of the drug ice during 2009 has seen drug users turn to more commonly available drugs such as cocaine, Australia drug usage research indicates. The chief investigator at the University of NSW’s National Drug and Alcohol Research Council (NDARC), Dr Lucy Burns, said the rise in cocaine use was being reflected in crime statistics. “But this increase needs to be seen in the context of relatively small numbers compared with users of other illicit drugs being surveyed,” she said. The 2009 figures showed illicit drug use continued to stabilise. Fifty-seven ...
Naltrexone implants need government scrutiny
FOR many heroin users and their desperate families, the prospect of a quick fix for addiction to this all-consuming drug has been a tantalising reality. Naltrexone implants have been inserted into thousands of Australian heroin users over the past decade, despite serious safety concerns raised by drug treatment agencies around the country. These implants are not registered with the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and are either produced here or imported from China. Clinics around the country have been inserting these devices – under the TGA Special Access Scheme – by claiming that heroin-dependent patients are critically ill and at risk of death. These ...
‘Heroin drought’ may be over
AVAILABILITY of heroin may be increasing, possibly signalling the end of the so-called ‘heroin drought’, which began in 2001. Dr Alex Wodak, director of the Alcohol and Drug Service at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital, said he was concerned about “patchy” evidence that the availability of heroin had increased in the past year or two. Dr Wodak said the number of heroin overdoses attended by ambulances in Melbourne had doubled from 2006 to 2007, and Customs reports indicated increasing amounts of heroin were being detected over the past four years. Preliminary findings from the National Drug and ...