HEROIN SPREAD SEEN AS TREATMENTS PASS THOSE FOR COCAINE

WASHINGTON -- More Americans are checking into treatment centers for
heroin and other opiates than for cocaine, the Government reported
Wednesday, evidence that heroin use is spreading.

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.

In the same five-year period, cocaine admissions declined by 17
percent from 267,000 to 222,000, 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. 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. 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. "People who are using heroin are discovering it
is, in fact, a dangerous drug," said Dr. H. Westley Clark, director of
the department's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.

The perception on the street has been that heroin is only dangerous
when it is injected, Dr. Clark said, and injecting drugs does add the
risk of contracting the H.I.V. 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,' " Dr. Clark
said. "A number of individuals are realizing that is not the case."