STATE DRUG DEATHS DECLINE, BUT METH TOLL CLIMBS

Although overall fatalities show a 15 percent drop, a 30 percent increase
in methamphetamine deaths has officials worried

Tuesday, February 13, 2001

By Mark Larabee of The Oregonian staff

While drug-related deaths in Oregon were 15 percent lower in 2000 than they
were the year before, law enforcement officials are concerned with a 30
percent increase in deaths related to methamphetamine.

The Oregon state medical examiner's annual report on drug-related deaths,
which is set to be released today, says 209 people died from drug-related
causes in 2000. That's a decrease from 1999's record of 246.

Heroin continues to be the No. 1 cause of drug-related deaths, 130 last
year. But 2000 saw the lowest number of casualties since 1995 and a 33
percent drop from 1999, when 195 people died from the drug.

That striking total sparked debate among public health officials, police,
drug counselors and a group of former heroin users, the Recovery
Association Project, which began a campaign to raise awareness on the streets.

"They elevated heroin to a public health issue, and it changed the way
we're dealing with it," said Ed Blackburn, director of chemical dependency
services for Central City Concern, a Portland rehabilitation center. "The
same attention and focus has not been put on the deaths related to other
drugs."

Last year, 56 people died from methamphetamine-related causes, up from 43
the year before. Most lived in the three-county Portland metropolitan area
and in Lane, Marion and Deschutes counties, the report states.

The significant jump in methamphetamine-related deaths means that the drug
- -- considered by many in law enforcement to be the most pervasive illicit
substance in Oregon -- has found a growing base of users.

"Heroin is the one we see most often because it's the most deadly drug,"
said Dr. Karen Gunson, state medical examiner. "But with meth there are
just so many more people using it it's bound to catch up."

Gunson said the drug disrupts households, contributes to the crime rate and
puts pressure on social services trying to deal with neglected children,
for example.

"We're just seeing the numbers of deaths catch up with what we already know
from police and social service agencies: that meth is pervasive in
society," she said.

Capt. Jim Ferraris, who heads the Portland Police Bureau's drugs and vice
division, said methamphetamine is his squad's top priority. Last year, the
division raided 66 meth labs, compared with 42 the year before.

Federal law enforcement also has noted an increase in methamphetamine
manufacturing and importing. In the past 18 months, police in Oregon closed
down several large meth labs run by Mexico-based cartels.

The federal authorities saw those seizures as an expansion into Oregon of
the kind of big drug operation that was more typical in California. Drug
agents say the Mexican cartels have built on long-established distribution
routes for other drugs, such as heroin and cocaine, and have reshaped the
North American drug trade in the past decade.

Bart Boodee, the special agent who supervises the FBI's organized crime and
drug squad in Portland, said there has been an increase in home meth labs,
in part because of the availability of chemicals used to make it.

There were 68 cocaine-related deaths recorded last year, the same as the
year before.

While the overall numbers are down slightly, Gunson said there's nothing to
cheer about.

"It's still the fourth-highest year," she said. "As far as taking a big
bite out of drug overdose deaths, we're not."