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Utilization of Supply-Side Policies in Reducing Heroin Use The Australian and Canadian Experiences. By Bisola Atinmo Background • What is Heroin? • Can be administered by smoking, sniffing/snorting and inejction • 3.8 million (1.5%) aged 12-54 have used heroin • 560,000 (0.2%) have used heroin in past year • 338,000 (0.1%) have used heroin in past month Background (cont) • Average age of first use for those between the ages of 12 to 49 years is 20.7 • In 1994, 548,000 Americans were addicted to Heroin. • High social costs - Crime - Disease The Australian Experience • High amounts of heroin use in mid – late 1990’s • Increased addiction, death, crime, and Hepatitis C infection. • Unexpected shortage of heroin occurred in January, 2001 • Cause unknown – Increased policing or reduced production in source countries? Effects of Shortage • In Sydney (largest market), heroin use decreased. • Opoid related death reduced by 67% and Hepatitis C notifications fell • Cocaine use increased • No increase in number of other drug-related deaths. • Decrease in rates of property crime • Decrease in heroin supply acts like increased alcohol taxation. Reduces harm but not all affected by tax Applicability to Amerian Policy • Australian experience may be atypical because: i.) the heroin market in Australia is relatively small ii.) they are an island continent supplied a small number of highly centralized networks iii.) users have easy access to treatment The Canadian Experience • Overdose of illicit drugs is leading cause of death in Canadian cities • $426 million spent in 1999/2000 to reduce supply of heroin • In September 2001, 100kg of heroin seized in Vancouver by officials. Effects of Seizure • Vancouver Injection Drug User Study, 1996 • Found: - No change in participants’ ability to purchase drug - No change in overall drug use pattern - No change in per-point price of cocaine *Possible shortcoming of study is that only 75 of all participants were addicted to heroin. Conclusion • Possible that differences in both countries geographies and drug markets account for such opposite experiences. • Possible that amount of heroin seized in Vancouver was inconsequential. • Unable to draw a policy recommendation but Australia’s experience seem more logical. • Learned has the same kind of elasticity as alcohol. Valuable information. References • 1. National Institute on Drug Abuse. 2008. National Clearinghouse on Alcohol and Drug Information. www.nida.nih.gov. (accessed March 9th, 2008) • 2. News on Heroin, 2008. Narconon of Oklahoma, Inc. www.heroinaddiction.com. (accessed March 9, 2008) • 3. Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2008. US Department of Justice. www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/. (accessed March 9th, 2008). 4. Degenhardt, Day. Hall, and Bewley-Taylor, Dave R. 2007. The Australian Heroin Shortage Six years On: What, If Any, are the Implications for Drug Policy? The Beckley Foundation Drug Policy Programme. July 2007. • 5. Wood, Evan. Tyndall, Spitall et al. 2003. Impact of supply-side policies for control of illicit drugs in the face of the AIDS and overdose epidemics: investigation of a massive heroin seizure. Canadian Medical Association. January 2003.