HEROIN USE UP DRAMATICALLY: LOW PRICES, HIGH PURITY DRIVE 'EPIDEMIC'

Low prices and increased purity have caused heroin use to skyrocket in
Massachusetts, with a new study showing the drug is the No. 1 reason for
admissions to treatment programs and hospital detox units as well as
overdose deaths.

"This is a drug epidemic permeating every corner of our commonwealth, and
as a society, we need to aggressively fight to end the human suffering,"
said Dr. Howard Koh, commissioner of the Department of Public Health, which
issued the report yesterday.

"Heroin deaths are suffocating our society," he said.

The DPH report showed heroin is the most common drug for which people in
the state are seeking substance abuse treatment, with 37 percent of those
entering treatment last year saying it was for heroin addiction.

In fiscal year 2002, which ended June 30, some 42 percent of the people
entering state-supported substance abuse treatment programs reported using
heroin within the past year, compared with 19 percent in 1992.

And 60 percent of the people entering detox programs reported using heroin
within the past year, the same percentage as for alcohol.

"Heroin use has increased dramatically over the past 10 years," said Teresa
Anderson of the agency's Bureau of Substance Abuse Services.

Since 1996, rates of opioid-related hospitalizations soared 74 percent,
including a 230 percent rise among those in the 15-24 age group and a 150
percent jump among those aged 45-54.

The highest rates were among men aged 25-44, however.

Opioids include heroin, codeine, morphine and oxycodone.

Fatal heroin overdoses jumped 156 percent from 1990 to 1998 and another 10
percent between 1999 and 2000, the report said. Fatality rates were highest
for those aged 35-44.

Deborah Klein Walker, associate commissioner for programs and prevention,
cited lower prices and increased purity as reasons why heroin use is soaring.

"Heroin use has continued to rise over the last few years," said Daniel
Mumbauer, president of the Highpoint Treatment Center in Plymouth and New
Bedford.

"More than half of all folks admitted to inpatient units for detox, their
drug of choice is heroin," he said.

"It's cheap and accessible," he said.

A bag of heroin now costs only about $4, Mumbauer said.

"It's cheaper than a six-pack of beer," he said.

That makes it attractive to younger people, he noted.

And the fact that the heroin these days is very pure allows people to get
high from snorting it instead of shooting it - at least at first.

That's another reason why younger people are willing to try it, Mumbauer said.

In the end, however, "intravenous is still the most popular way of getting
high from heroin," he said.

Intravenous use of drugs is linked to transmission of HIV and hepatitis C,
Klein Walker said.

State police Sgt. Al Zani of the Essex County Drug Task Force in Lynn said
a bag of heroin that cost $20 in the 1970s now costs $4 - and the purity is
up from about 5 percent to anywhere from 30 to 80 percent.

"We're seeing the consequences," he said. "You're seeing teenagers doing
it. You see a lot of high school students."

DPH officials said they hope to use the report to improve programs aimed at
prevention and treatment.

"Treatment works," Koh said.