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After December 2000, Australia's illicit drug markets experienced an unexpected, dramatic reduction in the supply of heroin. The reduction in supply was sustained throughout 2001 in jurisdictions in which heroin had been easily available, decreasing in price and relatively pure. The heroin shortage provided an unprecedented opportunity to examine the impact of a marked reduction in the availability of the preferred drug of the majority of participants in a contemporary injecting drug market. In the present article, the authors examine the existing knowledge regarding the heroin shortage. A historical overview of Australia's heroin markets is provided, and the heroin shortage is characterized in terms of changes in the price, purity and availability of the drug. The short-term changes associated with the heroin shortage are examined, and data are presented relating to: (a) self-reported patterns of heroin use among injecting drug users; (b) health outcomes, including treatment episodes and ambulance attendances at suspected opioid overdoses; and (c) drug-related criminal activity recorded by the Attorney-General's Department of New South Wales. The hypotheses regarding the causes of the heroin shortage are presented, and an ongoing in-depth study, funded by the Australian law enforcement sector and designed to examine the causes, effects and implications of the shortage, is described. Subsequently, the global implications of a localized and potentially short-term change in heroin availability are considered, particularly in the light of indications of a shift to other drug use among some primary heroin users. Technical challenges to understanding the causes of the heroin shortage are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sought to compare the patterns and correlates of ‘recent’ and ‘regular’ ecstasy use estimated on the basis of two datasets generated in 2001 in New South Wales, Australia, from a probability and a non-probability sample. The first was the National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS), a multistage probability sample of the general population; and the second was the Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) Party Drugs Module, for which regular ecstasy users were recruited using purposive sampling strategies. NDSHS recent ecstasy users (any use in the preceding 12 months) were compared on a range of demographic and drug use variables to NDSHS regular ecstasy users (at least monthly use in the preceding 12 months) and purposively sampled regular ecstasy users (at least monthly use in the preceding 6 months). The demographic characteristics of the three samples were consistent. Among all three, the mean age was approximately 25 years, and a majority (60%) of subjects were male, relatively well-educated, and currently employed or studying. Patterns of ecstasy use were similar among the three samples, although compared to recent users, regular users were likely to report more frequent use of ecstasy. All samples were characterised by extensive polydrug use, although the two samples of regular ecstasy users reported higher rates of other illicit drug use than the sample of recent users. The similarities between the demographic and drug use characteristics of the samples are striking, and suggest that, at least in NSW, purposive sampling that seeks to draw from a wide cross-section of users and to sample a relatively large number of individuals, can give rise to samples of ecstasy users that may be considered sufficiently representative to reasonably warrant the drawing of inferences relating to the entire population. These findings may partially offset concerns that purposive samples of ecstasy users are likely to remain a primary source of ecstasy-related information. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article reports on the results of the Australian Needle and Syringe Program (NSP) survey. According to the survey, people who inject performance and image enhancing drugs (PIED) have high risk of being contaminated with blood-borne viral infections (BBVI) such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). Moreover, steroid injectors were less likely than other injectors to report their HCV and HIV screening but know their HCV status correctly. Moreover, incarceration history was not associated with HCV status but those who were HCV positive were more likely to be identified as homosexual/bisexual.

The conduct of drug and alcohol research involves a wide range of research methods, many of which require face-to-face interviews with and the collection of biological samples from, research participants. These participants are drawn from diverse backgrounds, representing a broad spectrum of people. Many are drug dependent, a disorder that disrupts normal motivational pathways possibly resulting in behaviour that may have otherwise been considered unacceptable. Significant proportions are likely to have criminal histories, comorbid psychiatric conditions and a range of physical health problems, including blood-borne viral infections.

Objective: Australia's annual Needle and Syringe Program (NSP) Survey forms the basis of HIV surveillance among injecting drug users (IDUs) by providing serial point prevalence estimates of patterns of infection and risk behaviors. This study examined the representativeness of NSP Survey samples., Design: National cross-sectional survey of 3920 NSP clients., Methods: Demographic and drug use characteristics of respondents and nonrespondents to the 2006 Survey were compared., Results: Relative to NSP clients who last injected heroin, methamphetamine injectors were significantly more likely to complete the Survey, as were people who had last injected an opioid maintenance pharmacotherapy or morphine. Other variables independently associated with Survey completion were female gender and being aged >or=35 years. Although the median age of NSP Survey samples has increased by 1 year per annum since 2002, the increase has occurred among both repeat and first-time respondents, allaying concerns that an ageing cohort of NSP clients repeatedly completes the Survey and unduly influences its results., Conclusions: Inferences derived from the Survey results can reasonably be applied to the population of NSP clients, although because older female pharmaceutic injectors may be overrepresented among NSP Survey participants, recruitment strategies to target specific subpopulations (younger male participants) and stratification of main outcomes by age and gender in future analyses may usefully be considered. Although the extent to which Survey results can be generalized to Australia's broader IDU population cannot be ascertained, their consistency with other sources of surveillance data suggests that NSP Survey samples reflect the changing characteristics of Australia's illicit drug markets. Consequently, these are likely to be as representative samples of injectors as it is practical to obtain, and the Australian NSP Survey provides a useful model for blood-borne virus surveillance among IDUs.