DEATHS HIT RECORD AS SEATTLE CONFRONTS HEROIN PROBLEM

SEATTLE - Seattle and King County recorded a record number of
heroin-related deaths last year, according to a preliminary report compiled
by local health officials that is likely to solidify the city's unwanted
reputation as a prime center for heroin abuse.

Along with its fame for hightech innovation and cultural vibrancy, Seattle
has long battled a grim notoriety for its heroin problem, one that was
aggravated by the 1994 suicide of Kurt Cobain, the grunge rock star and
lead singer for the group Nirvana, who had struggled with heroin addiction.

One federal study of 1997 emergency-room admissions has identified Seattle
along with Baltimore, San Francisco and Newark, N.J., as the top cities in
the United States, on a per-capita basis, for heroin-related problems.

In response, the Legislature plans a hearing today on a bill that would
drop limits on methadone treatment programs.

The data compiled by the Seattle-King County Public Health Department shows
that the area had 138 heroin deaths in 1998, with at least 12 other deaths
believed to have been caused by use of the drug, with toxicology test
results still pending.

Henry Ziegler, head of the prevention division for the department, said
that the results, to be formally released next month, already show that the
deaths have surpassed the 1996 total of 134, and that they represent only
the "tip of an iceberg," since heroin is also a factor in many deaths that
may be officially attributed to heart failure or infection.

Ziegler said the deaths "seem to reflect pretty generally a cross section
of our community," buttressing the contention of many drug-abuse experts
that heroin abuse cuts across many different age and socioeconomic groups.
"This drug is not a problem just in the inner city, in the Bowery," he
said. "It's all over."

There is little debate that the problem has long been particularly severe
in Seattle. Although final comparative figures for 1998 are not yet
available, Seattle has been at or near the top of the list of cities for
heroin deaths on a per-capita basis in recent years.

But why heroin abuse is particularly bad in Seattle is a matter of some
debate. Among the factors offered by experts are Seattle's location as a
port "gateway" for drug shipments, a reputation for low prices and more
potent forms of the drug here, and the self-fulfilling nature of its image
as a center for heroin use.

Heroin is relatively cheap and fairly easy for those in West Coast cities
to obtain from Mexico and Asia.

Some have even found evidence of higher drug use in cities, such. as
Seattle, with a strong music scene. "Nashville, for instance, also has a
serious cocaine problem, a serious heroin problem as well," said Jovcelyn
Woods, executive vice president of the National Alliance of Methadone
Advocates, a nonprofit group with chapters in 40 cities. "You never hear
about it but it's there." But the contention that drug use is a byproduct
of the music world has, in turn, angered many musicians, who say the
connection is unfair.

Seattle's musical heyday has passed, and any glamour heroin may have
gleaned from it is now just one small aspect of the problem, said Ron
Jackson, director of Evergreen Treatment Services, which provides methadone
treatment to 700 addicts here.

"There are people associated with the music scene. And there are office
workers, construction workers, computer workers," he said.

Nor is it necessarily a trendy youth drug. Though many addicts start in
their teens, Jackson said 80 percent of the heroin-related deaths last year
were in people 30-49 years old.

The advocates have also faulted a state law that limits each licensed
clinic to treating no more than 350 patients. Today, the state - Senate
will hold a hearing in 0lympia on a proposed bill that would lift that
restriction and would also allow family doctors, under state guidelines, to
provide methadone treatment in their offices.

Mng County officials also say they hope to address the problem with a
mobile methadone clinic, for which they recently received a federal grant.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.