CHEAP HEROIN LAYING WASTE TO MEN IN NORTHWESTERN CITIES

Heroin use has risen dramatically in the Pacific Northwcst, with overdoses
in the Portland, area accounting for nearly as many deaths among young and
middle-aged men as cancer or heart disease, the government said yesterday.

The drug, at about $20 a dose, is cheap on the West Coast, and black tar
heroin from Mexico or South America is readily available in Atlanta, the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Other studies have indicated heroin overdoses increasing in most U.S.
cities in the 1990s, but not as dramatically as in Seattle and Portland.

Multnomah County, Ore., which includes Portland, analyzed medical examiner
reports and found that heroin overdose deaths climbed steadily from 46 in
1993 to 111 in 1999, a 141 percent increase. Eighty-seven percent of the
overdoses were among men.

In 1997, 67 men ages 25 to 54 died of heroin overdoses in the county,
compared with 88 from cancer, 73 from heart disease and 44 from AIDS.

The Seattle area saw a similar increase, as the number of heroin overdose
deaths climbed from 47 in 1990 to 110 in 1999, a 134 percent rise.

As in Portland, more than 84 percent of the victims were male, and many
overdoses were not included in the statistics because they were believed to
be suicides or because the victims were not residents.

The CDC has not tracked heroin overdoses nationality, but statistics from
the Drug Abuse Warning Network indicate that use of the drug is increasing
in most large cities.

Injection increases the risk of death because of the rapid rise of opiate
levels in the blood the CDC aid. Black tar heroin is usually injected
because it is too impure to snort.

Dr. Gary Oxman, director of the Multnomah County heath department, said
price, availability and a glamorization of the drug in movies and music
have contributed to the rapid growth.

Oxman said heroin users develop a tolerance to higher doses, and most users
eventually stop injecting for periods of time, usually when they are
jailed, run out of money or seek-rehabilitation. When they resume, they
often inject the same dose, and since the body's tolerance has declined,
they often overdose.

Three-fourths of the users in Seattle interviewed said they hesitate to
call for emergency assistance for fear of being arrested.

"We need enhanced prevention and treatment for opiate addiction, and we're
going to need a better balance of resources," said Dr. Alonzo Plough,
director of the Seattle area public health office.