Publications

Supply control and harm reduction : lessons from the Australian heroin 'drought'

Toni Makkai, Don Weatherburn, Craig Jones and Karen Freeman

Published in:
Addiction, 98(1), January 2003.

Abstract

Based on data drawn from a survey of 165 heroin users in Cabramatta; from the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) project; from New South Wales Health records of heroin overdoses; and from the COPS database, this study examines the effects of supply side drug law enforcement on the dynamics of the Australian heroin market and the harms associated with heroin. The study finds that as a result of the heroin shortage experienced from around Christmas 2000, heroin price increased, while purity, consumption and expenditure on the drug decreased. The fall in overall heroin use was accompanied by a significant reduction in the rate of overdose in NSW. However the health benefits associated with the fall in overdose may have been offset by an increase in the use of other drugs (mainly cocaine) since the onset of the heroin shortage. There does not appear to have been any enduring impact on crime rates as a result of the heroin 'drought'. The study concludes that while supply control has an important part to play in harm reduction, proponents of supply side drug law enforcement need to be mindful of the unintended adverse consequences that might flow from successfully disrupting the market for a particular illegal drug.