STUDY: CHEAPER HEROIN ENCOURAGES ADDICTS

Drugs: The results pose the question: Would driving up the price motivate
some users to stop?

Washington-Heroin prices dropped in half from the late 1980s to mid-1990s,
driving up use by addicts, a study finds. The results are significant
because they suggest that addicts are sensitive to price fluctuations,
meaning drug policy that drives up prices could stem drug use even among
hard-core users, said the study's author, Dr. Peter Bach, who did his work
at the University of Chicago.

"There's a lot of evidence that casual users are price-sensitive. The
question is whether it affects hard-core users. Are hard-core users going to
do whatever they need to do to get what they need?" said Bach, whose
research is published in the May issue of the American Journal of Public
Health.

While the price dropped over-all, at certain points it increased. When price
increased, demand dropped, Bach said. The research was conducted in 19 major
cities from 1988 to 1995.

Not only did price drop, but during that seven-year period, the amount of
pure heroin found in a $100 dose tripled, the study found.

The study gauged heroin use by measuring use of methadone, which is used to
stabilize addicts. The more heroin someone has consumed, the more methadone
they need.

Researchers at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy hadn't
seen the study but were skeptical of its findings, said spokesman Bob
Weiner. Other researchers have failed to establish the link between price
and drug use, he said.

The new study also found large differences in heroin prices among cities. It
was most expensive in Atlanta, where $100 would buy just 77 milligrams in
1995, and cheapest in New York and Philadelphia, where a buyer could get
about 316 milligrams for $100.

In Los Angeles, $100 bought 267 milligrams; in Phoenix, 244 milligrams; in
San Francisco, 195 milligrams; in Miami and Chicago, about 121 milligrams;
and in Detroit and Washington, about 104 milligrams.

A casual user might use 5 to 10 milligrams, while a hard-core user might use
up to 10 times that in a dose.

By contrast, in 1988, $100 bought 29 milligrams in Atlanta and 77 milligrams
in Los Angeles.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded the research.