Transcript Utilization of Supply-Side Policies in Reducing Heroin Use

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.