HEROIN USE UP AMONG U.S. TEENS

CHICAGO (AP) Heroin use has risen rapidly in recent years among U.S.
teens, with many middle-class youngsters snorting the drug in the
mistaken belief that it's less addictive than shooting up, experts
say.

The proportion of American 12th-graders who had used heroin doubled
between 1990 and 1996, from 0.9 percent to 1.8 percent, according to
a study in the December issue of the journal Pediatrics.

And the rate edged up again last year, to 2.1 percent, with some
states reporting even higher percentages, said the study's author, Dr.
Richard H. Schwartz of the Inova Hospital for Children in Falls
Church, Va. He cited data from the federal government and other sources.

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

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.

"There's been an increase in purity of heroin on the street, and that
increase in purity is drawing a generation of heroin sniffers,
snorters, intranasal users, rather than injectors," Leshner said.

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

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.

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady