SAN FRANSISCO TOPS STATE IN DRUG-RELATED DEATHS, REPORT SAYS

Cheap, potent herion contributes to the problem. The city also ranks first,
as expected, in AIDS cases.

San Francisco- People are dying drug-related deaths in San Francisco at a
rate higher than anywhere else in California-partly due to the prevalence
of purer, cheaper heroin in the area, experts say.

A report released this week by the state Department of Health Services
shows San Francisco had 20.5 drug-related deaths per 100,000 people, or one
for every 4,901 residents.

That compares with a statewide average of eight drug deaths per 100,000
residents. The lowest rate in the state was in Santa Clara County, with
4.7.

Competition among heroin dealers here has helped push down the price of the
drug to one-quarter of what it was in the early 1980s, said Dr. John
Newmeyer, an epidemiologist with the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic.

San Francisco also ranks first in the number of cases of tuberculosis and
AIDS per 100,000 residents.

The report shows that Los Angeles had the state's highest homicide rate,
San Joaquin County had the highest syphilis rate, Kern County ranked
highest in infant mortality and Tulare County led in both teen pregnancies
and youth poverty.

The report compared California counties using 20 health-related indicators,
including rates of death, disease and prenatal care. Most of the rates are
three-year averages. The data were adjusted to account for different age
compositions of county populations.

Orange County health indicators were generally better than the statewide
average, the report showed.

For example, the county's overall death rate from all causes was the 12th
lowest in the state, with 404 deaths for every 100,000 residents. It had
the 18th lowest infant mortality rate (5.8 per 1,000 live births); and 21st
lowest rate of drug-related deaths (six per 100,000).

Although the county had the 16th-highest incidence of AIDS cases in the
state, with 16.3 cases per 100,000 residents, it still ranked below the
statewide average of 27.4.

Los Angeles reported 19.4 homicides per 100,000 people, followed by Fresno
County with 15.4 deaths. Lake County with 15.4 deaths. Lake County had the
highest suicide rate in the state, with 30 cases per 100,000.