USE OF HEROIN RAPIDLY RISING AMONG 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.

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.

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: derek rea