HEROIN DEATHS AN EPIDEMIC IN LANE COUNTY, STATEWIDE

Thirty-three people died of heroin overdoses in Lane County in 1999,
tying the record set the previous year and continuing a trend that has
seen heroin deaths increase 11-fold since 1986, according to
statistics released Friday by the county medical examiner's office.

Fifteen people died of overdoses in the first three months of 1999.
The rate increased during summer to about one per week, then slowed in
fall to one per month.

There were nearly four times more heroin deaths than
homicides.

Although the number of deaths held steady, it's too soon to tell
whether they've reached a plateau, said Chief Deputy Medical Examiner
Frank Ratti.

"We'll see next year," he said.

Statewide, a record 179 people died of heroin overdoses in 1998; 163
had died through Sept. 30, 1999.

Lane County drug and alcohol counselors said the high number of deaths
reflects the increasing number of people hooked on heroin, a drug so
addictive that many users find it difficult to quit.

Many users find that methadone treatment is the only way to escape
heroin's grip.

Methadone suppresses the craving for heroin and allows patients to
function normally.

Sylvia Doggett, clinic assistant for the Lane County methadone
treatment program, said the county's clinic on East Sixth Avenue has
seen a jump in the number of people taking methadone - and in the
number on the waiting list.

In 1992, the program could treat 65 people at a time, she said. Now it
treats 105.

With the addition of another methadone clinic in 1997 - CODA Addiction
Treatment Services - the wait for treatment has dropped from a year to
three or four months.

Together, the two clinics can treat 300 people at a
time.

Still, far more addicts live in the community than the system can
possibly help - and they're getting younger, said Linda Eaton, Lane
County's methadone program manager.

"The treatment capacity has at least doubled, but we still have this
huge unmet need," Eaton said.

And while an increasing number of young people are becoming addicted,
there are few treatment programs for them.

"Younger people are using heroin because it's more available and easy
to get on the street," Eaton said.

"It's extremely accessible and much less costly."

Doggett said heroin is popular among drug users.

"The people I've talked to have said, `Oh God!' and then they try it
again and again, and pretty soon it's impossible to get off," she said.

Ratti said most heroin users also abuse alcohol and other drugs, even
prescription drugs.

Of the deaths in 1999, 75 percent had mixed alcohol or other drugs
with the heroin.

"People aren't medicating themselves," Ratti said.

"They're concerned with getting high."