Pubdate: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 Source: Miami Herald (FL) Copyright: 2000 The Miami Herald Contact: One Herald Plaza, Miami FL 33132-1693 Fax: (305) 376-8950 Website: http://www.herald.com/ Forum: http://krwebx.infi.net/webxmulti/cgi-bin/WebX?mherald Author: Emily Bliss DRUG USE ON RISE, REPORT REVEALS Heroin deaths quadruple locally over past year The number of heroin deaths in Broward County has quadrupled over the past year, and most juveniles younger than 18 arrested tested positive for marijuana in 1999, according to a report from the Broward County Commission on Substance Abuse. The report -- the first formal analysis of its kind in Broward -- documents cocaine, heroin, marijuana, GHB, ecstasy and LSD abuse in 1999. The information came from 35,000 medical charts and 6,000 toxicology screenings at two Broward drug treatment centers, Spectrum and the Broward Addiction Recovery Center. "What the report really does is it lays out what the problem is," said David Choate, commission director. He believes a drop in national concern about drug abuse over the past 10 years accounts for increases in children using illicit drugs. "The problem is still here, and it's not going away," Choate said. According to the report, cocaine remains a major problem in Broward. Cocaine caused 47 deaths in 1999. From 1997 to 1999, there was a 15 percent increase in the number of deaths that involved cocaine. Heroin-induced deaths have skyrocketed since 1995, the report shows. There were nine in 1995 and 40 in 1999. Broward is unique in that most deaths were middle-aged men, compared to the rest, where most of the deaths were younger people. The report also said that use of ecstasy and GHB -- drugs often used in clubs and at raves -- has increased in Broward, following a national trend. At Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, "there have been 48 GHB overdoses in 1999 and three withdrawal cases," said pharmacist Joe Spillane, who helped compile the data. "That's one a week. For a drug that's virtually brand new, that's a lot." Along with an increase in GHB, there has been a rise in South Florida rapes, said Jim Hall of Up Front Drug Information in Miami. GHB, a central nervous system depressant, is sometimes used by rapists to sedate victims, who often don't remember what happened to them. "GHB has dramatically increased drug rape in general," Hall said. "Rape has become part of the rave and club cultures." Choate said he hopes the report will prompt parents to talk frequently with their children about drug abuse. "This is not like the sex talk, where you have one talk about it and that's it," he said. Instead, parents and their children should have an ongoing dialogue, he said. Drug use in young people is a strong indicator of future problems with drugs and possibly crime, Choate said. "Beginning that early in life, there is no way that kid is not going to have a problem later on," he said. Annual reports such as the one just released will help the Commission on Substance Abuse dole out $1.8 million in federal and local funds to 24 Broward drug prevention and treatment programs, Choate said. The report will help the commission set priorities and target problems with particular drugs, Choate said. The report also alerts policymakers and parents to Broward's growing illicit drug problem, he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart