News 07/07/2002

Europe’s heroin addicts face shortage

By Kurt Sansone

Europe’s main heroin supply route from Afghanistan is slowly drying up as the Central Asian country is still plunged in turmoil and a United Nations report published on 26 June suggests that the severe and sudden shortage of heroin may lead to changes in the behavioural pattern of heroin users.

Heroin users in Western Europe, including Malta are only now feeling the pinch of the Afghan crisis, with higher retail prices and a lower quality drug.

However, Sedqa’s Detox Centre Clinical Director George Grech, told MaltaToday that no major impact has been registered in Malta due to drastic shortage.

Dr Grech said that within the domestic scenario, the price of heroin has been stable for some years. He also added, "Many addicts are poly-drug users, that is, people who abuse more than one substance, and the shortage of a drug is compensated by other similar-effect-drugs."

The United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention in its illicit drug trends study report for 2002, states that after the events on 11 September last year heroin prices in the Afghan region showed an upward movement during the months October to December, reflecting the beginning of a supply shortage.

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However, no significant increase in prices was noted in Western Europe indicating that there were adequate stocks along the supply route. On the contrary, the report states that the events in Afghanistan seemed to have accelerated rather than slowed the flow of heroin to Western Europe. This probably reflected the sudden export of previous heroin stocks in Afghanistan for fear of being lost during the bombardments.

Only towards the end of the first quarter of 2002, reports were received from a few west European countries including Switzerland, Germany and the UK indicating prices starting to rise. Europe normally faces supply shortages some three to six months after the initial effects are felt in central Asia.

The other factor that determines whether a shortage is in the offing is the level of purity of the drug. UK forensic laboratories were reporting a decline in heroin purity towards the end of 2001. The level of purity is expected to deteriorate further as the heroin supply constricts. It is not uncommon for drug pushers to mix heroin with other white powders such as washing powder and talcum powder thus reducing the level of purity of the drug. When this is done the drug becomes very dangerous and potentially lethal for drug abusers.

The UN report says that drug addicts hooked on heroin will increasingly face severe shortages of the drug in the months to come. This might lead a number of abusers to turn, where available to legal opiate substitutes such as methadone. Others may shift to other illegal substances available on the market, although their effect may not be the same as that of heroin. But the report also identifies a third possibility that the demand for treatment could increase.

According to Dr Grech there has been no significant change in the amount of those seeking Sedqa’s rehabilitation services that can be linked to the shortage of heroin in hand. "We have reached the plateau phase where the number of those seeking service is stable. To be able to attribute any slight increase in clients to the shortage of heroin, scientific research needs to be conducted," Dr Grech explained.

The clinical director added that recently it has been noted that Maltese teenagers are progressing to heroin much more quickly, a trend followed elsewhere. Dr Grech said, "The glamour of what was once considered ‘soft’ drugs, is rapidly substituted with the hard-hitting stuff."

Dr Grech quoted Roger Howard of Drugscope UK, who said that in Britain the ‘age of first use’ was coming down as teenagers smoked the drug. "Heroin carries less of the ‘junkie’ stigma that scared previous generations," Dr Grech added.

The Detox director assured MaltaToday that Sedqa was closely monitoring any development and change in trend adding that the Agency continues in its daily endeavour to offer its services on a professional basis to every person who comes for care and assistance.

Dr Grech explained that Sedqa’s services were continuously being re-adjusted to reflect the dynamism of the drug problem. "Our services are on a continual re-adjustment and in concordance to the harm reduction approach adopted by the Agency as the way to meet effectively the needs of those in care," Dr Grech concluded.