Safe to smoke' myth leads more to heroin

THIRTY-EIGHT islanders take heroin every day. More than 50 people here take the drug regularly - and the authorities believe that there are more users than they know about.

Heroin is now said to be the second-most-popular drug in Guernsey, behind cannabis.

Drug Strategy coordinator Maria Eggleston said that 56 people were registered on its database as heroin users.

'But there will be some users who are not on the database so the figure could be higher,' she said.

Both Customs and Drug Strategy report an emerging problem with the drug in Guernsey.

Deputy chief Customs officer Rob Prow recently said that he expected 2002 to prove a bumper year for seizures of the narcotic.

Mrs Eggleston said its popularity had grown over the last 18 months.

'A few years ago it was only four or five people who used heroin.'

And they now tended to be younger - most are aged 17-30 according to the database.

'It's incredibly worrying that under-21s are using this extremely dangerous drug.'

Of the 32 unemployed heroin users, 25 spent more than £100 a week.

Some spent between £300 and £500 on the drug that is understood to cost £350 a gram locally.

Mrs Eggleston is especially worried that ignorance is leading more people to become addicted.

'There have been reports of people who are taking up smoking heroin in the mistaken belief that it is not possible to become addicted by smoking the drug.

'Myths spring up all the time so it's possible for people to think that since they can smoke cigarettes or cannabis, they should be okay smoking heroin because they think that it's people who inject it that get addicted.

'It is essential that anyone who is currently using or considering using heroin is aware that however it is taken it remains a highly addictive drug.'

Apart from people smoking it, Mrs Eggleston said there was a small 'but worrying' number of people injecting.

Heroin is traditionally seen as a problem brought into Guernsey, but most users known to Drug Strategy were born in the Bailiwick, she added.

'The vast majority of users are local. These are not outsiders bringing it with them.'

Treatment for heroin addiction locally can be arranged through GPs.

Twenty-three islanders sought help between April and December last year.

'It is not true to say that everyone who tries heroin will become addicted the first time they use it, but it is true that virtually every addict started out believing that he or she could control the drug.'

* The recent death of five people in Jersey is understood to be linked to the use of heroin and heroin substitutes. There is concern that Guernsey's problems with Class A drugs could reflect the higher rates of abuse in Jersey.