Heroin use in the Australian Capital Territory has fallen, according to figures released by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre. Data collected by the Australian Institute of Criminology from interviews with injecting drug users show a decline in the number of people injecting heroin "in the last six months". In 2000, 91 per cent of injecting drug users reported that they had injected heroin in the last six months, but in 2001 this figure was 82 per cent. There was also a decrease in the number of respondents reporting that they used heroin every day - from 47 per cent in 2000 to only 15 per cent in 2001. Data were collected from the Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS), which is an annual study that monitors the prevalence of drug use through interviews with injecting drug users. The report also includes information about price, purity and availability of illicit drugs.
Heroin use among injecting drug users, 2000 and 2001 [see attached PDF for graph]
Source
- Williams, P. and Rushforth, C. 2002, ACT Drug Trends 2001: Findings from the Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS), Technical Report No. 128, National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, Sydney.