DRUG, ALCOHOL ABUSE RISING IN WASH.; SMOKING DOWN

SEATTLE -- Abuse of drugs and alcohol is on the rise in Washington state,
including one of the highest rates of non-medical use of prescription pain
relievers in the nation, according to the state Department of Social and
Health Services.

In the agency's 16th annual report on drug and alcohol abuse trends, the
good news is that smoking and methamphetamine abuse are on the decline.

Washington state ranks sixth among the states in non-medical use of pain
relievers by people 12 and older, after Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Utah
and West Virginia. The prescription pain relievers being abused are mostly
opiates.

Binge drinking and consistent heavy drinking have also gone up over the
past two years, with adult heavy drinking rates at their highest level this
decade, the report said.

Heavy drinking by adults has risen dramatically in the state since 2004,
while the national average has remained steady. In Washington, heavy
drinking has increased from a rate of under 5 percent of the over-18
population in 2004 to 6.1 percent in 2007.

Problem drinking among youth is also a growing problem: Almost one-fifth of
10th and 12th graders reported being drunk or high at school in the past year.

Statistics about drinking could be about to change, however, because as the
author of the report, David Albert, notes, "During previous recessions, the
amount of drinking goes down."

Albert, senior planner and policy analyst for the Division of Alcohol and
Substance Abuse, adds, however, that state officials are not sure if
problem drinking goes down during a recession, or just drinking in general.
"We don't have the data," he said Tuesday.

The economy's impact on drug use is just as difficult to track because the
use of individual drugs can change so much over a short period of time,
Albert said.

Smoking rates and methamphetamine use are two of the few bright spots in
the 2008 abuse report.

Smoking among adults and teens, both men and women, is down. Lung cancer
death rates are also declining. In all categories, Washington smoking rates
are lower than the national average.

Methamphetamine use was among state officials' biggest worries a few years
ago and now they consider it one of their biggest successes.Although deaths
related to methamphetamine use have risen in the Seattle-King County area,
the number of reported methamphetamine laboratories and dump sites in
Washington state has fallen, as has the number of people entering treatment
for using the drug.

"This is one we seem to have gotten our collective heads around and have
done a good job," Albert said.

At the same time, abuse of prescription opiates is a big problem that
appears to be growing, Albert said.

The results of a new healthy youth survey come out in March and Albert said
he expects that report will show prescription opiate abuse continuing to
increase among young people.

And the biggest drug problem in the state involves a legal drug: alcohol.

"It still needs to be recognized that by far the biggest drug problem in
the state is alcohol," Albert said.

By 12th grade, almost one-fifth of Washington students are already problem
drinkers, defined as six or more days of drinking in a 30-day period or two
incidents of binge drinking in a two-week period, the report said.

Albert said another bright spot in the report is the success of treatment
and prevention programs in the state, which are paid for entirely with
federal dollars.

Treatment saves the state money, by reducing medical care costs, cuts
hospital emergency room admissions, reduces crime and domestic violence and
gets kids back in school, he said.