DRUG THREAT REMAINS: DEATHS FROM ILLEGAL DRUGS DROP IN OREGON

No one should waste more than a few self-indulgent seconds feeling enthused
about a new state report that shows drug deaths dropping in Oregon during
the first six months of the year.

The battle is far from over. In fact, it's hardly begun.

In a study released earlier this week, Oregon Medical Examiner Karen Gunson
reported that there have been 101 drug deaths statewide between January and
June of this year. That's nearly a one-third drop from the record-high
numbers during the same period last year.

Not surprisingly, heroin continues to be the leading cause of drug deaths in
the state. Oregon, along with much of the Northwest, is flooded with black
tar heroin from Mexico and South America. At $20 a dose, it's cheap and
readily available in communities throughout the state.

So far this year, 68 people have died from heroin, a dozen of them in Lane
County. That's a 43 percent drop in heroin deaths statewide from the same
period last year.

Cocaine usage, the second leading cause of death in the state, resulted in
30 deaths, three of them in Lane County. That's a 29 percent statewide drop
from the same period last year. Methamphetamine use has risen by 5 percent
in comparison to the first half of 1999. There have been 24 meth deaths so
far this year in Oregon, six of them in Lane County.

Such statistics sound impressive, until one examines the statistical
backdrop. It shows that drug deaths in Oregon have more than tripled since
1989, peaking in 1999 when a record 246 people died, four-fifths of them
from heroin overdoses.

Late last month, a study by the national Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention noted that heroin overdoses have increased in many major U.S.
cities during the 1990s, but that the most dramatic increases occurred in
the Northwest cities of Portland and Seattle. Astonishingly, heroin
overdoses in Portland last year accounted for nearly as many deaths among
young middle-aged men as cancer or heart disease.

Lane County is also a hotspot for heroin deaths. With 10 percent of the
state's population, the county accounted for 17 percent of the state's 1999
heroin overdose deaths.

Such statistics make it clear that Oregonians must intensify the fight
against drugs. Parents and teachers must continue to educate young people
that drugs are addictive - and deadly. Public officials must increase
funding for the prevention programs needed to stop young people from trying
drugs in the first place, and for the programs that help addicts begin the
long, tough process of recovery.

Any decline in drug deaths is welcome news. But the long-term drug trend in
Oregon is upward, and no one should be deceived by what may well be a
statistical blip.