EXPERTS have called for restrictions in drug supply to be coupled with harm-minimisation strategies after a study of the Australian heroin drought revealed injecting drug users were likely to switch to other drugs that increased the risk of hepatitis C infection. The three-year study of 368 IV drug users in NSW examined the effects of the sudden Australian heroin drought in 2001, partly caused by local and international policing efforts. In the droughts first year, the proportion of study participants injecting mainly heroin fell from 74% to 29%, while in the same period participants injecting mainly cocaine increased from 1% to 20%. Compared with heroin injectors, cocaine injectors were more likely to report risk-taking behaviour such as sharing needles...
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