South Australia has cheapest wholesale ecstasy and methamphetamine market in the nation

SOUTH Australia has the dubious honour of being the cheapest ecstasy and methamphetamine wholesaler on the national market — with the cost of a pill costing the same as a cup of coffee.

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SOUTH Australia has the dubious honour of being the cheapest ecstasy and methamphetamine wholesaler on the national market — with the cost of a pill costing the same as a cup of coffee.

A report by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Committee for 2016-17 shows that although police shut down a record number of clandestine labs and seized almost 50kg of precursor chemicals, the bulk price of methamphetamine in SA remains the cheapest in the country.

A kilogram of meth sells for $50,000-$140,000 – up to $30,000 cheaper than in any other state.

Contextually, a street deal, or 0.1g of methamphetamine, sells for $50 a hit, according to the report.

In Queensland, the most expensive state, the price for a kilogram of meth was up to $280,000.

MDMA bulk prices in SA were also the cheapest in the nation, with dealers purchasing pills at $4.50 each for quantities of more than 1000 pills.

Serious and Organised Crime Detective Chief Inspector Tony Crameri said pricing could be variable depending on drug market factors but the price for meth had been falling.

“The pricing depends on information from people who have been spoken to during seizures, it also depends on supply,” he said.

“If there is an influx of drugs, there may be some impact on market trends.

“However, we have over a period of time seen a street deal of meth go from $100 to $50 over the last few years.”

He said the law enforcement response to the international flow of illicit substances was to bolster relationships with other agencies.

“We are all working together because we understand the global impact of trafficking and illicit substances and South Australia is not immune.

“Our recent seizures, including 313kg of meth coming into Australia through Adelaide, shows that there is importation into Australia, he said. “We are certainly aware of organised crime groups which are trafficking illicit substances. We work with other law enforcement to target individuals in these groups.

“There are many different factors in organised crime. Some people are involved because of ethnicity, some are coming together purely to import drugs, some do it because they are in a gang.”

University of SA Adjunct Pharmacology Professor Jason White said illicit substances were at the whim of market forces. “Certainly, the supply fluctuates more in the short-term but the demand for a particular drug can change more gradually and can take a number of years,” Prof White said.

“So drugs become more or less popular over longer periods of time whereas the supply of drug can fluctuate quite quickly. A large seizure may have an impact for some months on the amount of the drug which is available and the amount which is charged for that drug.”

The ACIC report showed cocaine and heroin busts were on the rise but Prof White said methamphetamine remained the state’s most problematic illegal drug.