REPORT CITES 8 PERCENT INCREASE IN OREGON DRUG DEATHS SINCE '05

Counseling Groups Can't Keep Pace With Calls for Help

Drug-related deaths are on the rise in Oregon.

Twenty of those deaths were in Marion County. Three were in Polk
County. Heroin use accounted for the most deaths in both counties.

The number of drug-involved deaths in 2006 was an 8 percent increase
over the previous year and the highest in the state since 1999, when
248 people died from drug use, according to the report.

The figures don't surprise Jim Seymour, the executive director of
Catholic Communities Services in Salem. The nonprofit organization
provides drug- and alcohol-abuse counseling.

"We're flooded with requests for help from people who are addicted to
drugs," Seymour said. "We're working hard to not turn people away, but
we just can't accommodate all of the people who are calling asking for
help."

Meth users account for the increase in requests for help, particularly
from female addicts, he said.

For Peter Asmuth, the chief executive officer of Serenity Lane, a
private nonprofit chemical dependency treatment center based in
Eugene, the new statistics underrepresent the impact that substance
abuse is having in the community.

"Oftentimes, families won't say that a loved one's suicide was due to
problems with drug abuse," Asmuth said.

In addition, Serenity Lane, which has nine outpatient clinics in the
state including in Salem, has seen a continuous rise in the number of
people addicted to prescription drugs.

"They're not the stereotypical drug users," Asmuth said. "These are
folks who began using the prescribed drugs due to a physical ailment
and got hooked.

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2006 STATISTICS

Methamphetamine use was involved in 89 deaths, a 4 percent increase
from the previous year's 86 deaths. The figure is three times the
number of meth-related deaths in 1996.

Heroin use contributed to 89 deaths, up 4 percent from the 86 deaths
that occurred the previous year.

Cocaine use accounted for 64 deaths, a 15 percent rise from the 56
deaths in 2005.

SOURCE - Oregon State Medical Examiner's Office