Frontline workers are encountering more people using heroin, benzodiazepines and other tranquillising prescription drugs in Western Australia after the state's border closure.
Detox, rehab and needle exchange workers say more people are overdosing in Western Australia because drug users have switched to "downers" like heroin in place of methamphetamines, which became more expensive and harder to get due to the state's border closure.
The number of people seeking rehab for alcohol addiction has also increased dramatically at one Perth rehab centre, along with the use of a nerve pain drug rarely reported in recreational use in the past. Gavin Brunini, team leader of needle and syringe programs at WAAC, said a change in the types of drugs being used coincided with the decreased availability of meth when the WA border was closed."People who might switch from using methamphetamine to heroin maybe – and don't know the consequences of using heroin -- but then overdose because they don't know the strength."
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