MORE SEEK HELP FOR HEROIN THAN COCAINE

WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of Americans checking into treatment
centers for heroin and other opiates has surpassed those seeking help
for cocaine, the government reported Wednesday, offering further
evidence of heroin's spread.

The rise is fueled by users who snort and smoke heroin - proof,
experts say, that these methods can be just as addictive as injecting
the drug with needles.

The number of treatment center admissions for heroin and other opiates
rose by 29% - up from 180,000 to 232,000 - between 1992 and 1997, the
report found.

Cocaine, meanwhile, offered some good news: In that same five-year
period, cocaine admissions declined by 17% from 267,000 to 222,000,
the report said.

Alcohol abuse remains the most common reason people seek help,
although it is not as dominant as it once was, according to the annual
report of treatment trends by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration, a branch of the Department of Health and
Human Services.

While other surveys indicate marijuana is by far the most popular
illegal drug, it accounted for just 13% of admissions to treatment
centers in 1997, the most recent year for which data is available.

The report, which includes data from about two-thirds of the nation's
drug and alcohol admissions, also details demographic and geographic
trends. It finds heroin treatments were concentrated in the Far West
and Northeast. Methamphetamine, meanwhile, has spread from the West
into the nation's heartland.

About 16% of the 1.5 million treatment admissions in 1997 were for
heroin and other opiates, compared with 15% for cocaine, marking the
first time since 1992 that heroin has surpassed cocaine.

''People who are using heroin are discovering it is, in fact, a
dangerous drug,'' said Dr. H. Westley Clark, director of the Center
for Substance Abuse Treatment at HHS. Fashion magazines have been
accused of glamorizing heroin through use of strung-out-looking
models. ''Heroin chic - there's a down side to it,'' he said.

The perception on the street has been that heroin is only dangerous
when it's injected, Clark said, and injecting drugs does add the risk
of contracting the HIV virus or hepatitis.

''Snorting and smoking was something that people could accept as less
dangerous - 'You can't get as hooked, it's not as bad,''' he said. ''A
number of individuals are realizing that is not the case.''

Barbara Fielding, counseling manager at a treatment center in
Rockville, Md., said heroin can be more devastating because people
generally ''binge'' on cocaine, using it only periodically but in
great quantities.

''Once you're addicted to heroin, you have to have it every day,''
Fielding explained. ''Every day, they have to figure out how they're
going to get the money for that heroin.''

The survey only includes programs that receive some HHS or state
funding. Privately funded centers such as Fielding's are not included,
nor are some funded by other federal agencies.

Still, experts believe the report provides a good look at changing
patterns of treatment, and it is the most complete study on the
subject available.

The report provides a striking look at the geographic distribution of
drug use, particularly methamphetamine, also known as ''speed,''
''crank,'' ''crystal'' and ''ice.'' Nationally, it accounted for 5% of
treatment admissions in 1997, up from 2% in 1992. During the same
years, it showed a distinct movement from the West Coast into the Midwest.

In 1992, only California and Nevada had more than 50 admissions. By
1997, there were that many across the Northwest and into Iowa,
Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska and Utah.

''We call it the methamphetamine plague,'' said Alan Leshner, director
of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. ''It's spreading like an
infectious disease across the country.''

The survey also found:

Delaware, Oregon, Washington, Michigan and Utah saw
an increase in heroin admissions between 1992 and 1997. No
state saw a decline.

Cocaine admission rates were highest in the Northeast and in
some Southern states.

Nearly half of the 1.5 million treatment admissions in 1997
were primarily for alcohol, a proportion that has fallen from 59%
when the survey began in 1992.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated report, a university survey found that 82%
of parents who had used marijuana would admit as much to their
children if they asked.

The telephone survey was conducted in May and June by the National
Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. It
found that 56% of parents said they smoked marijuana in the 1960s and
'70s, with 18% saying they used it regularly.

The survey of 1,000 parents had a margin of error of plus or minus 3
percentage points.