ERS TALLY FEWER REPORTS OF DRUG USE

N.O. area sees drops in 3 major areas

WASHINGTON -- Fewer New Orleans-area emergency room patients reported using
illegal drugs in 2001 than in the previous year, according to a federal
study released this week.

The federal report says that New Orleans was the only one of 21
metropolitan areas surveyed that showed a reduction in reported marijuana
use by emergency room patients. It was one of three cities -- the others
are San Diego and Dallas -- to show a reduction in cocaine use and one of
six to show a reduction in heroin use.

The survey is based on interviews in which patients are asked whether they
used illegal drugs immediately before their visit to the ER. If the answer
is yes, the patients are asked to specify the drug or drugs.

Dr. Keith Van Meter, a section chief for Charity Hospital's emergency room,
said the drop in reported drug use locally may be a result of stepped-up
enforcement of drug laws. Combined cocaine, heroin and marijuana arrests in
New Orleans rose from 2,525 in the first half of 2000 to 3,907 in the first
half of 2002. The largest increase was for marijuana violations.

"We may be seeing some of the impact of the heightened enforcement
efforts," Van Meter said.

However, Van Meter said, emergency room physicians at Charity have been
seeing an increase in heroin-related cases recently, which he suspects may
be due to the availability of a less expensive form of the drug.

The 2001 downturn in reported drug use in New Orleans runs counter to what
happened elsewhere, according to officials with the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration, which oversaw the survey. The survey
said that "mentions" of recent marijuana use by emergency room patients
increased 15 percent from 2000 to 2001 on average in the 21 cities, while
cocaine "mentions" were up 10 percent. Heroin use remained unchanged.

In many cases, drug use led directly to serious medical problems, which
prompted the emergency room visit, federal officials said.

"This report shows one more cost of drug abuse to our society," said Tommy
Thompson, secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, which
oversees the substance abuse agency. "We must continue to strengthen our
prevention program and build substance-abuse treatment capacity so that
people don't abuse drugs and end up in costly emergency departments, taking
resources away from other urgent-care needs."

Although much of the information about drug use is voluntarily provided by
the patients, federal officials say they are confident that it signals
important trends about drug use and the impact on public health. "When
people are in an emergency room, they tend to tell the truth about factors
such as drug use because they don't want to die and want the appropriate
treatment," said Leah Young, spokesman for the Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration.

Earlier this year, the agency released mortality data for drug overdoses,
and the results were sobering, according to White House Drug Czar John Walters.

In the New Orleans area, 242 people died of drug overdoses in 2000,
according to data collected by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration.

According to statistics, 103 of the deaths occurred in New Orleans, 84 in
Jefferson Parish, 19 in St. Bernard Parish and 36 in St. Tammany Parish.