HEROIN USE ON THE RISE AMONG U.S. TEENS, EXPERTS SAY

CHICAGO (CNN) -- With a cheaper, more potent product on the market, heroin
use among American teen-agers has more than doubled since 1990, according
to a study released Monday.

The study, based on an analysis of more than 80 existing studies and other
resources on substance abuse, is published in this month's issue of
Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The study found the proportion of American 12th-graders who had used heroin
doubled between 1990 and 1996, from 0.9 percent to 1.8 percent. The rates
edged up again last year, to 2.1 percent.

Some states reported even higher percentages, according to the study's
author, Dr. Richard H. Schwartz of the Inova Hospital for Children in Falls
Church, Virginia.

"The problem is growing, and adults and teens alike need to be more
educated about the prevalence and dangers of heroin," Schwartz said.

While the overall number of adolescents using heroin remains low, the
highly addictive nature of the drug and the devastating consequences of
addiction make the trend troubling, he said.

"Heroin imported from Colombia and from Mexico is now cheaper and of high
potency, permitting novices to start with nasal administration of the
drug," he said.

Schwartz said the average price of heroin has dropped by nearly two-thirds,
while purity has gone from 10 percent to more than 50 percent.

"Most (U.S.) adolescents now initiate heroin use by snorting it; however,
frequent use of heroin by any route leads to tolerance and intense drug
craving," he added.

Young people who may be more likely to start using the drug are those whose
school grades are falling and who also smoke cigarettes and commit
antisocial acts for rebellion or amusement, he said.

Snorting attracts more middle-class teens

Heroin use is becoming more attractive to middle-class youngsters, experts
said, with many of them snorting the drug in the mistaken belief that it's
less addictive than shooting up.

Dr. Alan I. Leshner, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said
the increase in heroin use is similar to that observed for cocaine and
appears to be leveling off.

Leshner said the increase in purity "is drawing a generation of heroin
sniffers, snorters, intranasal users, rather than injectors."

"They foolishly think if you don't inject it, it's not addicting, which is
incredibly wrong," he said. "And so you're seeing middle-class, upper
middle-class yuppies using heroin, where five years ago, they wouldn't go
near it."

Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson