HEROIN SURPASSES COCAINE AT DRUG TREATMENT CENTERS

BY Laura Meckler, Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- 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 percent -- 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 percent 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 percent 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 percent of the 1.5 million treatment admissions in 1997 were for
heroin and other opiates, compared with 15 percent 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 AIDS 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.''

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 4.5 percent of
treatment admissions in 1997, up from 1.5 percent in 1992. During the same
years, it showed a distinct movement from the West Coast into the Midwest.

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 percent when the survey
began in 1992.