Police and health practitioners are reporting a spike in the number of drug users turning to heroin.
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Bendigo Community Health Services nurse practitioner in addiction Cameron Cail has noticed a spike in the number of clients using heroin.
“In the last month or so there has been a little bit of a spike in heroin use,” he said.
“With regards to the use of meth people use it as a stimulant.”
He said both together was not seen regularly.
A Bendigo policeman, who wanted to remain anonymous, said a number of people who used crystal methylamphetamine were using heroin to come down from the high.
“They use it to control how they feel,” he said.
“Meth users, those at a chronic stage, they use and use for a number of days.
“It gets to the stage where it no longer has an affect.
“They crash for two or three days and just sleep and then they recover from that.
“The chemicals in their body are then normal.
“After that normal they enter a depressive state.
“That’s when they start using other drugs to get above that period.
“Then the cycle starts again.”
The policeman said addicts managed to self-medicate when they felt depressed and when they felt high.
“Heroin is a little bit cheaper than ice but it all fluctuates a little,” he said.
BCHS’ Cameron Cail said first-time users had the highest risk.
“When people do use heroin to come down they risk overdose death, physical and psychological dependence, and poor emotional control and regulation, which comes from using stimulant and depressant within close range of each other,” he said.
Bendigo Community Health Service nurse practitioner in addiction Cameron Cail said the instability of both ice and heroin combined created risk.
“When you take a stimulant and a depressant at the same time it is so unpredictable,” he said.
“In days gone by there was a speed ball that mixed two sorts of drug.
“People engaging in treatments have a drug of choice. Then primarily they will use that drug – it can be cannabis or alcohol, too”
Mr Cail said from a withdrawal point of view the withdrawal from heroin is the worst as there are more psychological symptoms.
"The methylamphetamine market will almost certainly remain entrenched and continue to grow in the medium term," a report by the Australian Crime Commission concluded.
"The addictive nature of methylamphetamine, combined with increasing user numbers, will likely create an increased burden on the health sector.”
