YOUTHS USING MORE HEROIN, POT, U.S. SAYS

WASHINGTON -- Two weeks before the Clinton administration plans to launch a
five-year, $2 billion anti-drug media campaign, the White House drug czar
on Thursday reported that marijuana and heroin use is increasing among
young people.

Marijuana, used by people of all ages and economic and social groups, is on
the rise among junior high school students, said Barry McCaffrey, director
of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Although most heroin users are older, chronic users who inject the drug,
the number of new, younger users who inhale or smoke it is increasing, he
reported.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy released its semi-annual Pulse
Check describing trends in drug use as reported by ethnographers, drug
treatment centers and law enforcement authorities around the country.

According to the study, the price of heroin is going down as its purity is
going up, enabling users to inhale or smoke it instead of injecting it.

Alan Leshner, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, attributed
the rise in heroin use among youths and in suburbia and affluent
communities to the erroneous belief that sniffing or smoking heroin is not
as addictive as injecting it.

"The biggest message in the current situation is that we need far more and
far better public education about drugs and what they are and what they
actually do," Leshner said, using the spread of heroin as an example.
"Misunderstanding and ignorance about drugs, frankly, is killing us."

The campaign starting July 9th includes ads on television, radio, the
Internet and in newspapers.

Checked-by: Richard Lake