COCAINE USE DOWN, STUDY SHOWS

Dip in number of new male inmates testing positive for the drug indicates
it is less prevalent, officials say.

Fewer new inmates at the Marion County Lockup are testing positive for
cocaine, a strong indication that cocaine use in general is down.

That's welcome -- and anticipated -- news in Indianapolis. As crack cocaine
use has declined, so have the violence and crime associated with it.

The Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Program's most recent report found
cocaine use among incoming male inmates has dropped more than a third since
1994.

Where once nearly half of all men booked into the jail had cocaine in their
systems, now less than one in three test positive for the drug.

In 1994, 47.6 percent of newly-booked male inmates tested positive compared
to 30.8 percent in 2000.

The study's findings suggest fewer teen-agers are using cocaine, while
hard-core addicts are dying off or in prison, said Marion County Prosecutor
Scott Newman.

"We're seeing the younger generation turning away from cocaine," he said.
"We're seeing the addict population aging."

The so-called ADAM report is a federally funded study in which a sample of
newly arrested jail inmates take urine tests and are interviewed about drug
use. The interviews and drug tests are voluntary and anonymous.
Indianapolis is one of 39 ADAM sites in 27 states. Other cities in the
program include Chicago, Houston and Washington.

Newman said the study also tells law enforcement agents what kind of drugs
are being sold in the community.

The study, which tested 1,844 of 8,614 male inmates arrested last year,
found that marijuana continues to be the most widely abused drug, with 48.9
percent of male inmates testing positive in 2000. Only 3.4 percent of male
inmates used heroin, and fewer than 1 percent used methamphetamine,
according to the study.

But the level of cocaine use is most important to law enforcement. When
cocaine is down, experts say, the number of violent crimes and burglaries
committed in the community also drop.

In Indianapolis, a record number of homicides occurred in four out of five
years in the 1990s, a rampage attributed largely to the crack cocaine
trade. The trend record of 162 came in 1998. The number of homicides has
dropped steadily and dramatically since, though the number of homicides so
far this year is slightly above last year's total.

A spokeswoman for the nation's drug czar, John P. Walters, noted that the
trend is not confined to Indianapolis.

"The violence that was rampant during the cocaine epidemic of the 1980s has
declined across the country," said Jennifer deVallance, spokeswoman for the
Office of National Drug Control Policy. "We're delighted that the decline
in cocaine use is impacting neighborhoods in positive ways."

Nationwide, deVallance said the latest figures from the National Household
Survey on Drug Abuse suggest about 5.7 million Americans regularly used
cocaine in 1985, compared to 1.2 million chronic users last year.

Brian Jennings, director of the Metro Drug Task Force, said his experience
on the streets supports the study's findings.

"The amount of cocaine is less than we have seen in a while," said
Jennings, a deputy prosecutor assigned to the special unit. "I'm not saying
it's disappeared, but it's less prevalent than it was."

Jennings said officers are also seeing fewer turf wars associated with the
crack cocaine trade.

As cocaine use declines, other drugs, including methamphetamine and Ecstasy
are on the rise, he said. But those replacement drugs have not brought
along the bloodshed that has been associated with crack.

"Probably crack cocaine was the most violent drug because it's so cheap and
it got you out of your mind," Sheriff Jack Cottey said, "but it only lasted
a short time."

Cottey said addicts would steal and kill to get more drugs.

"Crack is the drug gone by, and they're trying something new now," he said.
"It's a shame that people need drugs and are addicted to drugs, then turn
to other criminal acts to get money for this."