Burnet studies COVID-19 impact on drug markets
March 2020 saw Australia close its borders for the first time in history. For those with a dependence on illicit drugs it is a time of uncertainty, with COVID-19 restrictions and an unsettling of supply chains disrupting the sourcing and purchasing of substances such as methamphetamine and heroin.
Burnet Program Director, Behaviours and Health Risks, Professor Paul Dietze, and collaborators have been speaking to cohorts of people who inject drugs in Victoria since the first wave of restrictions, to gather insights on supply, pricing and uptake of support services.
Burnet Program Director, Behaviours and Health Risks, Professor Paul Dietze.
Professor Dietze said uptake of support services to date had not declined significantly. More concerning was the potential for drugs like illicit fentanyl to enter the market. The potent substance is responsible for a surge in overdose deaths in the USA and Canada, but hasn’t yet reached Australia.
“It’s easily transportable, and in the context of this change in supply routes and mechanisms we could expect fentanyl to start showing up on Australia’s streets,” he said.
Burnet’s cohort studies, which interview people who use heroin or methamphetamine in Victoria, have monitored changes to drug markets for many years and informed policies in many Australian states. During COVID-19 the studies have kept going, but Burnet researchers and participants have had to adapt.
“We have stopped face-to-face, field-based data collection. Everything is done by phone or video. It’s been a remarkable reflection of our project team and staff group to make that transition because it’s been challenging at times,” Professor Dietze said.
Looking ahead, he said a heightened risk of overdose could stem from a large increase in supply and purity, particularly if a person’s tolerance is reduced from using less.
“We’re positioned to be monitoring what happens as changes occur, like when restrictions are lifted,” he said.
While 2020 is a year like no other, Professor Dietze said the heroin drought that began in late 2000 may provide some indication of what happens with the drug market.
“There was a really big change in supply, and a reduction in harms. It did take a long time before we ended up with similar levels of things like overdose deaths,” he said.
Professor Dietze said the advent of take-home naloxone, as well as the Victorian Government’s support of a Medically Supervised Injecting Room in North Richmond, would reduce the impact of changes in heroin purity and tolerance.
Opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone is now available to in Victoria. It can be administered via a nasal spray as pictured, or through an injection.
