HEROIN USE IN ASPEN IS NOT THAT FARFETCHED

"Aspen" and "cocaine" are nearly as synonymous as "Philadelphia" and
"cheese steak." But when a 30-year-old local man was accused of
selling and using heroin in Aspen last month, people were shocked.

Most American heroin addicts, it turns out, are a lot like Ryan
Welgos, the Aspen native who was arrested at the end of a months-long
federal undercover operation. They are male, they are white, and they
do not live in large cities.

That last characteristic belies the notion that heroin use is an
urban phenomenon, or that it doesn't exist in well-to-do places like
Aspen. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, more than 60 percent of heroin users live in rural areas.

"People relate heroin addiction to sitting in a crack house in some
broken-down place in New Jersey or San Francisco," said Brad Osborn,
director of The Right Door, an Aspen-based substance abuse treatment
service. "But it doesn't matter if they're wealthy or poor or where
they live or if they work in entertainment or business or sports."

The average age of heroin users has gone down significantly since the
early 1990s, as their income level has gone up. During this period,
purer strands of the drug have made it possible to use by snorting or
smoking (the method that authorities say Welgos used) rather than injecting it.

Heroin, an opiate, is considered one of the more addictive hard drugs
available. Possession of more than 100 grams of heroin has a minimum
sentence of five years in federal prison.

Five locals reported using heroin last year while in Right Door
treatment, a number dwarfed by the 22 who admitted to cocaine use and
the 12 who reported using methamphetamine. Just six reported abusing
prescription medicine and two said they had taken LSD.

Osborn and his team treated a total of 723 people last year -- the
majority of them for alcohol -- meaning that at least 5 percent of
Pitkin County's population is in rehab.

He says more locals are seeking drug treatment from his office every
year, which he believes doesn't necessarily indicate a growing local
drug problem.

"I don't think there's more drug use here than there was 10 years
ago," said Osborn. "I think it may even be less. But the awareness in
this community about the danger of drugs has grown in the last few
years, and that's why our business is growing."