Heroin use on rise as other drug use eases
Reuters

WASHINGTON U.S. teenagers are using more heroin, but abuse of
marijuana and alcohol has leveled off, according to a new report on drug
use released by Clinton administration officials Wednesday.

Use of marijuana was found to decline very slightly from 8.2 percent
to 7.1 percent of teenagers, statistically insignificant amount, but
heralded as progress nonetheless because it might be seen as a trend
toward reduced use of the drug.

``Illicit drug use is still unacceptably high. But, there is a glimmer
of hope,'' Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala told
reporters as she and White House national drug policy director Gen.
Barry McCaffrey released the annual survey of drug use.

``We are beginning to arrest the rather astronomical rise in drug use in
America,'' she said.

The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse found a slight decline in
use of illegal drugs among teenagers 1217 in 1996 to 9 percent in the
month before the survey from 10.9 percent in 1995. Use in the prior
month by those 1825 rose to 15.6 percent from 14.2 percent.

In 1996, 22 percent of children 1217 reported they had used an illegal
drug sometime during their lifetime and 48 percent of young adults 18 to
25 had used some illegal drug. Over half of Americans aged 26 to 34 have
tried illegal drugs.

McCaffrey, the Clinton administration's main drug policy official,
called the report ``tentative good news.''

``Although marijuana use has dropped a bit, we remain concerned that
cocaine may be inching back up and heroin use is definitely
increasing,'' he said.

The government called recent increases in new heroin use are
``comparable to the increases seen in the epidemic of the 1960s.''

Rates of first use of heroin rose for both those aged 1217 and those
aged 1825 from 1990 to 1995. For teenagers, 2.5 percent reported first
use of heroin in 1995, up from 1.8 percent in 1994. For young adults,
first use was reported by 2.4 percent, up from 1.7 percent in 1994. The
numbers of heroin users were still much smaller than those of users of
marijuana and alcohol.

Nationwide, 6.1 percent of the entire population used illegal drugs in
1996, unchanged from 1995, but down from 14.1 percent in 1979.

Use of marijuana and cocaine rose during the year for those aged 1825.
All ages reported drinking less alcohol, but more of those aged 1825
reported they were heavy drinkers.

While government and private antidrug campaigns seem to be having some
success among teenagers, McCaffrey said he was concerned that high
school students still have a ``prodrug'' attitude.

The survey also found that fewer teenagers considered use of cocaine to
be risky and, he said the trend in heroin reflects a lower price and
higher purity for a drug that is now most often smoked, snorted or
sniffed, not injected, among teenagers and young adults.

The survey does not include people in prison or residential drug
treatment centers, the homeless who are not living in a shelter or the
military.