HEROIN OVERDOSE DEATHS RISING FAST IN NORTHWEST, STUDY SHOWS

Male Fatalities In Portland Area Rival Those From Cancer

SEATTLE -- Lisa Grenier extended her arms, palms up, to reveal deep heroin
needle tracks.

"This is what it does to you," she said, sobbing. "It's the worst thing
that you can ever, ever do. Don't do it. Don't even try it, not even once."

Grenier, 42, is a 20-year addict, one of an estimated 15,000 to 20,000
heroin users in Seattle and surrounding King County, where a federal report
says overdose deaths have increased 134 percent in 10 years.

A similar rise was seen in Portland and Multnomah County, Ore., where
nearly as many men aged 25 to 54 now die from heroin as from cancer or
heart disease, according to the study published Friday by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Other studies have shown heroin overdoses increasing in most U.S. cities,
but not so dramatically.

"It's a very serious problem, and one that we're addressing very
aggressively," said Dr. Alonzo Plough, director of the Seattle-King County
Health Department.

King County recently expanded its methadone treatment program, which allows
addicts to function normally without facing agonizing heroin withdrawal.

But the program still has a waiting list 600 names long, Plough said.

Grenier said she has been waiting for more than a year to start treatment.

"It shouldn't take that long to get somebody on. It shouldn't, because then
people go out and start stealing and whatever else they need to do" to pay
for a fix, she said in an interview at the downtown Street Outreach
Services, a drop-in center for injection-drug users.

"We've got people who come in, every single day, asking where they are on
the list. These are people who are desperate," said Kris Nyrop, executive
director at the center, where about two dozen men and women sat inside
sipping coffee and watching TV while at least a dozen more stood around
outside.

Seattle and Portland sit on the Interstate 5 corridor, which runs from
Mexico to Canada. That, coupled with their role as international ports,
makes the cities convenient for smugglers selling "black tar" heroin from
Mexico and South America, said Capt. James Ferraris of the Portland Police
Department's drug and vice division.

"Heroin is much more available now than it ever has been in the past, and
the younger crowd is breaking into heroin use in particular," Ferraris said.

Chris Harvey, a recovering addict and counselor from Portland, said many
users aren't as cautious about the more potent "black tar" heroin.

"If you know a hard-core addict, and somebody down the street just bought
some dope and overdosed and died, the first thing this guy's gonna say is,
'Where did he get that? I want some of that,' " Harvey said. "That's the
insanity of drugs."

Heroin doses start at about $20.

Dr. Gary Oxman, director of the Multnomah County Health Department, said
price, availability and a glamorization of heroin in movies and music have
contributed to the rapid growth in use.

Nyrop said Seattle's reputation as a heroin hot spot was established during
its "grunge rock" heyday of the mid-1990s.

"You saw young people coming from Boise, Idaho, or Phoenix or wherever
because the town had this reputation," he said.

The number of heroin overdose deaths in Seattle and King County climbed
from 47 in 1990 to 110 in 1999.

Overdose deaths peaked at 140 in 1998 -- topping the 137 who died in auto
accidents the same year. Overdose deaths are expected to top 100 again this
year.

The Centers for Disease Control has not tracked heroin overdoses
nationally, but statistics from the Drug Abuse Warning Network indicate
that use of the drug is increasing nationwide.