EXTRA METHADONE SLOTS HELP TREAT HEROIN CRISIS

HEROIN'S ferocious addictive power does more than end lives and
torment addicts' loved ones; it takes a heavy toll on the community.

An excellent decision by the Metropolitan King County Council to
increase the number of methadone-treatment licenses will not only help
heroin addicts, but it also fights crime and wages a public-health
battle.

A record number of heroin deaths in 1998, with little respite in 1999,
convinced a unanimous council to expand the number of treatment
licenses from six to nine. State law limits the number of individual
treatment slots to 350 per license. That means 1,000 more heroin users
could get help.

About 675 are already on a waiting list for treatment.

Payment for treatment with the synthetic heroin often comes from
private health insurance, and Medicaid funding in some cases. What the
council did was create an opportunity for help at no cost to government.

Further analysis could show it is cost effective for the county to
help provide treatment in these privately administered programs for
some of the county's estimated 10,000 addicts.

Heroin addicts steal to support expensive habits, and that can mean
breaking into homes and cars, or street crime to raise the money.

The public-health links are just as grim. More than 80 percent of King
County addicts are infected with Hepatitis C and 4 percent carry the
AIDS virus.

The emotional damage to families is beyond calculation.

Studies show methadone-treatment programs reduce crime and demands on
medical services.

The County Council opted to keep the expanded treatment slots within
three existing private clinics, in part for reasons of political harmony.

Treatment has to go where the need is greatest. That should be
remembered for the next expansion. For now, a notoriously contentious
council got together and made a good move.