PRICE FALLS, USE JUMPS -- 377%

Marijuana still No. 1, but `hip' crowd likes heroin

While heroin use has increased sharply in the 1990s, surveys show more
people still use other drugs such as marijuana and cocaine.

And the most widely abused substance is a legal drug, alcohol, with 31.9
million people identifying themselves as binge drinkers in a nationwide
survey conducted last year by the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services.

Marijuana is the most-used illegal drug, the same survey shows, with 11.1
million users. And cocaine, with 1.5 million users, was five times more
popular than heroin.

But while the use of other drugs has grown only slightly during the past
four years, heroin use nationwide has jumped 377 percent -- from 68,000
users in 1993 to 325,000 in 1997 -- and the drug has found a new market in
the suburbs.

Availability, affordability and potency account for the rise in heroin use,
according to Kieran Ayre, clinical director of High Focus Center in Sparta,
an addiction treatment program that opened four years ago.

"Heroin is definitely marketed to a young, hip, active type of crowd, the
way cocaine hit the movers and shakers of the '80s," he said.

Illegal drug use overall fell 45 percent between 1979 and 1997, according
to the federal Department of Human Services. However, it has been on the
rise the past five years, increasing by 15 percent between 1992 and 1997,
when an estimated 13.9 million people used some sort of illegal drug.

The popularity of particular drugs changes with time:

* Cocaine reached its peak in 1985 when an estimated 5.7 million people
used the drug. Its use has declined sharply since then -- by 74 percent
between 1985 and last year -- although it has increased by 7.3 percent
since 1992.

* Crack, a form of cocaine, gained popularity in the late 1980s and early
1990s. An estimated 666,000 people used it in 1991; that number dipped 35
percent by the next year but rose again to 606,000 last year.

* Alcohol is the most widely used substance with an estimated 111 million
users in the United States, according to surveys, a 5 percent increase from
1993. An estimated 31.9 million people were binge drinkers last year --
meaning they had five or more drinks on one occasion during a one-month
period. That number had risen 6.4 percent from 1993.

* Marijuana is by far the most popular illegal drug, used by 80 percent of
all people who use drugs, compared with 10 percent for cocaine and 2
percent for heroin. An estimated 11.1 million people used marijuana last
year, an increase of 15 percent over 1992, mirroring the rise for all
illegal drugs. Still, the number of people using marijuana decreased by 53
percent since 1979.

The national spotlight has been on heroin for the past few years. Musician
Jonathan Melvoin of the band Smashing Pumpkins died of a heroin overdose a
few years ago and musician Kurt Cobain struggled with heroin addiction
before killing himself.

The drug now is sold in a purer form so that it can be snorted. Its cost
has gone down and its availability has gone up.

Morris and Sussex county students say it's easy to find heroin, Ayre said.

"The cost of heroin has plummeted," he said. "The average cost of a bag of
heroin can be from $5 to $10, and some people use as many as 20 bags a day."

Addicts filling up treatment centers

While only 2 percent of all drug users take heroin, according to national
surveys, they are filling up treatment centers. More people in New Jersey
now seek treatment for heroin than any other drug.

"When we first started out, we had few heroin users or abusers," Ayre said.
"Now, upwards of 40 percent of kids in our program are either using heroin
or heroin is their main drug of choice. During the last 18 months, there's
really been an explosion."

The rise of heroin abuse can be seen in rehabilitation centers, hospital
emergency rooms and in drug seizures by law enforcement authorities:

* Once, alcohol sent more people to rehabilitation than any other
substance. In 1992, 50 percent of all people getting treatment in New
Jersey listed alcohol as their main problem while 24 percent listed heroin.
In 1996, 39 percent listed heroin, compared to 36 percent for alcohol.

* The number of hospital emergency cases involving heroin in Morris,
Sussex, Essex and Union counties jumped 132 percent between 1991 and 1996
- -- from 2,328 to 5,392 -- compared with a 32 percent increase for marijuana
and 10 percent for cocaine, according to the federal Department of Health
and Human Services.

* The federal Drug Enforcement Agency reported that the amount of heroin
seized in New Jersey in 1997 was nearly five times the amount seized in
1995: 49 kilograms versus 10 kilograms.

* The amount of heroin seized by the Newark Police Department increased
13-fold between 1993 and 1995, from 2,193 grams to 29,743 grams.

Newark is a major source for heroin in suburbs such as Morris County,
authorities said. Seizures of cocaine remained about the same during that
time.

Newark police seized 5.6 times more cocaine than heroin in 1993; in 1995,
they seized 2.4 times more heroin than cocaine.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski