Pubdate: Sat, 29 Jan 2000 Source: Register-Guard, The (OR) Copyright: 2000 The Register-Guard Contact: PO Box 10188, Eugene, OR 97440-2188 Website: http://www.registerguard.com/ Author: Tricia Schwennesen HEROIN DEATHS AN EPIDEMIC IN LANE COUNTY, STATEWIDE Thirty-three people died of heroin overdoses in Lane County in 1999, tying the record set the previous year and continuing a trend that has seen heroin deaths increase 11-fold since 1986, according to statistics released Friday by the county medical examiner's office. Fifteen people died of overdoses in the first three months of 1999. The rate increased during summer to about one per week, then slowed in fall to one per month. There were nearly four times more heroin deaths than homicides. Although the number of deaths held steady, it's too soon to tell whether they've reached a plateau, said Chief Deputy Medical Examiner Frank Ratti. "We'll see next year," he said. Statewide, a record 179 people died of heroin overdoses in 1998; 163 had died through Sept. 30, 1999. Lane County drug and alcohol counselors said the high number of deaths reflects the increasing number of people hooked on heroin, a drug so addictive that many users find it difficult to quit. Many users find that methadone treatment is the only way to escape heroin's grip. Methadone suppresses the craving for heroin and allows patients to function normally. Sylvia Doggett, clinic assistant for the Lane County methadone treatment program, said the county's clinic on East Sixth Avenue has seen a jump in the number of people taking methadone - and in the number on the waiting list. In 1992, the program could treat 65 people at a time, she said. Now it treats 105. With the addition of another methadone clinic in 1997 - CODA Addiction Treatment Services - the wait for treatment has dropped from a year to three or four months. Together, the two clinics can treat 300 people at a time. Still, far more addicts live in the community than the system can possibly help - and they're getting younger, said Linda Eaton, Lane County's methadone program manager. "The treatment capacity has at least doubled, but we still have this huge unmet need," Eaton said. And while an increasing number of young people are becoming addicted, there are few treatment programs for them. "Younger people are using heroin because it's more available and easy to get on the street," Eaton said. "It's extremely accessible and much less costly." Doggett said heroin is popular among drug users. "The people I've talked to have said, `Oh God!' and then they try it again and again, and pretty soon it's impossible to get off," she said. Ratti said most heroin users also abuse alcohol and other drugs, even prescription drugs. Of the deaths in 1999, 75 percent had mixed alcohol or other drugs with the heroin. "People aren't medicating themselves," Ratti said. "They're concerned with getting high." - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea