DRUG ABUSE RISING

Study: Metro Area, State See Soaring Rates Of Use, Deaths

Drug-abuse deaths in metro Denver are skyrocketing at the same time they're
leveling off or declining in other U.S. cities, a new study shows.

Metro Denver had 310 drug-abuse deaths in 2001, more than double the number
five years earlier, according to the study by the Department of Health and
Human Services. A total of 147 happened in Denver.

By contrast, Phoenix's drug- abuse deaths dropped 19 percent the past three
years, while Chicago's dropped 3 percent.

Nationwide, Colorado ranks first in marijuana use, second in alcohol abuse
and 15th in drug abuse among the 50 states, according to a separate federal
study.

Health officials say they're not surprised by the statistics because
Colorado spends less on drug-abuse treatment and prevention than almost any
state in the nation.

According to Health and Human Services, public money spent on drug and
alcohol treatment nationwide was $27 per resident a year, while in Colorado,
it was $7.50.

"Absolutely, it's a big problem," said Adam Brickner, director of Denver
Mayor Wellington Webb's office of Drug Strategy. "We spend so little money
on prevention, treatment and intervention in Colorado. We absolutely could
do something about these deaths, but we're not doing it."

Another measure of the metro area's problem is drug-related emergency room
visits: Denver has more than double the national average, said Dr. Ed
Casper, director of behavioral health at Denver Health Medical Center.

"No one is seeing people who are abusing just one drug now," Casper said.
"Most use a variety of drugs," especially alcohol combined with either
cocaine, crack cocaine or heroin.

The most serious cases usually are people in their 30s, 40s and 50s,
although teens who've poisoned themselves with alcohol are close behind, he
said.

Use of Ecstasy and other "designer drugs" are showing the steepest rise
here, but cocaine in combination with alcohol remains the greatest killer.

Methamphetamine use also is showing a steep rise.

Health officials say marijuana is an important gateway to more serious drugs
and that tobacco is a gateway to marijuana.

In fact, University of Colorado sociologist Delbert Elliott has found that
95 percent of the time, tobacco and alcohol use, combined with minor
delinquency, comes before marijuana use.

Statewide, Bruce Mendelson, analyst for Colorado's alcohol and drug abuse
division, said drug deaths haven't doubled in five years, as they have in
metro Denver, but there have been significant increases in deaths from
cocaine, tranquilizers, heroin and amphetamines.

A study commissioned by the city of Denver last year estimated 50,000
residents needed substance abuse treatment, but only 7,000 were getting it.

A report by the National Center on Addiction and Drug Abuse at Columbia
University found that while the average state spent $3.70 on prevention and
treatment for every $100 in social and economic costs of substance abuse,
Colorado spent 6 cents, the lowest in the nation.

"These facts are tragic and tragically predictable," said Rep. Andrew
Romanoff, D-Denver. A bill he introduced would have had Colorado join 47
other states in allowing Medicaid to pay for substance abuse treatment, but
it died along party lines in committee this year.

Noting the costs to society for substance abuse - $21,000 per year for
foster care if a parent is addicted, for example - Romanoff said: "If you
care about keeping families together and saving the state money, you'd find
it cheaper to treat substance abuse than not to."

The Denver City Council last year approved Mayor Webb's request for an extra
$512,000 so teens over 18 would still be eligible for substance-abuse
treatment.

The city also started a substance-abuse program for homeless teens and
pumped money into substance-abuse counseling at four Denver schools.

But Romanoff says it's clearly not enough.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and
expecting a different result," Romanoff said. "That's what we're doing in
our approach to substance abuse. We're ignoring the problem - and we'll pay
for our mistake. The price tag is just too high."