DRUG DEATHS REACH A PEAK AS PRICES FALL

WASHINGTON - Drug-related deaths have reached a record level in America,
while users have been able to buy cocaine and heroin at some of the lowest
prices in two decades, according to a White House report obtained by the
Globe.

At the same time, only four of every 10 addicts who needed treatment
received it, the report said.

The figures surely are distressing news for the Clinton administration,
which is spending record amounts of money to fight the war on drugs and is
proposing an additional $1.6 billion toward cutting off the supply in
Colombia.

Some 15,973 people died from drug-induced causes in 1997 - nearly 44 people
a day and an increase of 1,130 people over the previous year. The rate of
African-Americans dying from drugs remains the highest among racial groups:
8.3 per 100,000 African-Americans died from drugs in 1997, the latest year
for which figures are available, owing to the difficulty in collecting the
data from a number of sources. That compares to 5.8 per 100,000 whites.

"It's a scandal that drug deaths are at the rate they're at," said Kevin B.
Zeese, president of Common Sense for Drug Policy, a Virginia group that
supports more funding for treatment. "It's never focused on by the drug
czar's office or by the media. The underclass, the black and brown people,
don't get the focus they deserve. If you had 15,000 deaths every year for
five years among middle-class white people, there would be an outcry."

In fact, 12,863 white people died from drugs in 1997. Overall, the number
of drug deaths has approximately doubled since the early and mid-1980s,
when cocaine usage was at a record level.

In addition, hospital emergency rooms from selected cities counted record
numbers of drug-related episodes in 1998, the most current year for which
those figures are available.

The report, which is to be released tomorrow to the House Appropriations
Committee and is traditionally used by antidrug officials to trumpet
achievements, cited several accomplishments. Among them: Youths' drug use
dropped 13 percent last year; overall cocaine use is down; drug crime and
drug-related killings are down; and there is a growing antimarijuana
attitude among youths.

But while youth drug abuse dropped last year, it is at roughly the same
level as in 1996, when Barry R. McCaffrey became the nation's drug control
director. What isn't known is whether his signature initiative of a $2
billion TV ad prevention program will yield significant results.
Statisticians and health professionals say that his anti-drug TV ads could
help reduce drug use among youth for years to come.

But prevention ads for young people, note analysts, have nothing to do with
treatment of hard-core addicts.

In the report's foreword, McCaffrey wrote about the power of prevention in
curbing rates of drug abuse and the need for treatment of addicts.

"Treatment can help them end dependence on addictive drugs," he wrote.
"Treatment programs also reduce the consequences of addiction on the rest
of society. Providing treatment for America's chronic drug users is both
compassionate public policy and a sound investment."

But on page 56, the report noted: "A significant treatment gap ... exists.
... Approximately five million drug users needed immediate treatment, while
2.1 million received it."

That estimate represented a slight improvement from the year before, but
still only 42 percent received treatment. The report said the national
estimates need to be much more precise and that a better understanding of
the program's magnitude should be known in August 2001.

Only two weeks ago, the treatment-gap issue arose during the House
Appropriations Committee debate on the Colombian plan. Representative Nancy
Pelosi, a California Democrat, proposed adding $1.3 billion for treatment
for US addicts, but it lost in a mostly party-line vote.

Late last year, McCaffrey opposed putting $100 million in new funds for
treatment in the Colombian plan, arguing it was wrong to mix two plans.

In his office's report, studies have shown that prices for cocaine and
heroin have continued to fall.

Cocaine dealers, purchasing between 10 and 100 pure grams, bought the drug
for $44.51 per gram, according to 1998 preliminary figures from the Drug
Enforcement Administration.

Heroin dealers, buying between one and 10 grams, purchased it for $317.97 a
gram. Both figures were the lowest since 1981, when the DEA began analyzing
prices.

On the street, drug users could buy heroin at a record low $1,798 per pure
gram, and a near-record low of $169 per pure gram for cocaine. Purity for
heroin was 24 percent and cocaine 71 percent, according to the DEA.

The government's proposals to fight drugs in the coming fiscal year show
the largest increases for interdiction and reducing the source of supply of
drugs. In its $19.2 billion drug-fighting proposal, the Clinton
administration wants to increase funding by 11.4 percent for interdiction
over the previous year and 10.3 percent for source reduction.

In the back of the report, on page 99, the drug office listed its funding
priorities for the next five years. The first one on the list: "Support for
Plan Colombia and drug control activities in the Andean region."

National "youth anti-drug" media campaign is second. Treatment is third.