HEROIN ABUSE ON THE UP AMONG TEENAGERS

The plague of heroin is spreading out of the greater Dublin area to
other towns and cities for the first time, an unpublished report from
the Health Research Board has revealed.

The number of drug addicts receiving treatment has jumped by almost 25
per cent, according to new figures. And research seen by the Sunday
Independent shows an increasing number of drug abusers are injecting
and becoming addicts while in their teens.

According to the National Drug Treatment Reporting System's
Statistical Bulletin for 1997 and 1998, the number of people being
treated for drugs increased from 4,910 in 1997 to 6,043 in 1998. The
figures do not include those people treated by GPs under the methadone
treatment protocol, or those receiving treatment in prisons. The
report shows that the typical addict is male, under 25, unemployed and
an early school-leaver.

Heroin continues to be the dominant drug of abuse. The number of
heroin cases grew from 3,422 (70 per cent of all cases) in 1997 to
4,297 (71 per cent) in 1998. Altogether, the number of opiate cases
increased from 3,905 in 1997 to 4,857 in 1998.

The number of benzodiazepine and cocaine abuse cases also increased,
but the number of cannabis cases has remained more or less the same.

Alarmingly, the number of clients who started using their primary drug
of abuse in their teens increased from 3,171 (70 per cent of all
cases) in 1997 to 3,880 (72 per cent) in 1998. The figures reveal that
the number of people injecting themselves increased from 2,376 in 1997
to 2,970 in 1998.

The research highlights a worrying rise in the number of abusers who
started injecting in their teens. The numbers rose from 1,530 (35 per
cent of cases) in 1997 to 1,909 (37 per cent) in 1998. The figures
show that 85 per cent of the country's cases were treated in the
Eastern Health Board's catchment area. Heroin accounted for 81 per
cent of all EHB drug cases in 1998, when 4,121 people received
treatment. Altogether, opiates accounted for 92 per cent of cases. The
report reveals that the percentage of clients injecting in the EHB
catchment region increased from 56 per cent in 1997 to 58 per cent in
1998.

Alarmingly, the number of abusers who started injecting in their teens
in the EHB increased from 1,482 in 1997 to 1,847 in 1998, or 42 per
cent of all cases. Almost 15 per cent of the EHB's clients came from
Dublin's north inner city, while 13 per cent came from the south inner
city.

The research also highlights a worrying rise in cases of heroin abuse
in many regional health boards though overall figures remain low.
Cases rose from just two to 10 in the North Western Health Board's
area; from eight to 23 in the Midland Health Board's region; from 11
to 22 in the South Eastern Health Board catchment area; and from 23 to
32 in the area administered by the North Eastern Health Board.

In the Western Health Board, the number of heroin cases increased from
three in 1996 to six in 1998 (there were no figures for 1997). In the
Southern Health Board's area, heroin cases fell from 18 to 14 between
1997 and 1998. However, the number of heroin clients receiving
treatment for the first time increased from five to eight.

The number of heroin cases dealt with by the Mid-Western Health Board
fell from 11 to seven. But there were four first-time heroin clients
in both years.

Cannabis remains the main drug of abuse in most of the regional health
boards in 1998.