DRUG DEATHS DOWN

More Addicts Seeking Treatment, Study Shows

Drug deaths are down, more heroin addicts are seeking treatment and pot use
is waning among students, according to an annual report on drug use in
Toronto.

A record 3,500 recovering addicts in Ontario are receiving methadone
treatments, double the level of two years ago.

"New data from the coroner's office indicates the total number of
drug-related deaths in Toronto in 1996 was the lowest in over a decade,"
said Dr. Joyce Bernstein of the city's health department and co-author of
the report released yesterday.

Bernstein said the decrease seems to be a trend. There were 96 overdose
deaths in '96, compared to 130 in '95 and 173 in '94.

"An important part of this overall decrease was the decline in
heroin-related fatalities," she said. "For the the second year in a row,
we've seen a drop in heroin-related deaths with 38 reported for 1996,
compared to 67 just two years before."

The decline in fatalities can be linked to both an increased number of
addicts seeking treatment and a drop in the purity levels of the drugs, the
report said.

HEROIN PURITY

Heroin purity has dropped from 72% to under 50%, with similar drops in the
level of cocaine purity to 62.8% -- its lowest level since monitoring
began. Crack cocaine, however, has increased in purity for the first time
in the 1990s to 77.6%.

The boom of marijuana use among high school students recorded in the 1980s
seems to have tapered off, according to the report.

Just 19% of junior high and high school students in Toronto admitted to
using pot in the past year -- a 1% increase over '95.

There was some bad news, however: Prenatal drug exposure among infants born
last year is up.

Copyright (c) 1998, Canoe Limited Partnership.