Pubdate: Fri, 15 Jul 2005
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2005 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://www.seattletimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Ari Bloomekatz

KING COUNTY DRUG DEATHS HIT 7-YEAR PEAK IN 04

Drug-involved deaths in King County rose by 36 percent in 2004 to the 
highest in seven years, and deaths from prescription drugs and cocaine were 
up substantially, according to a University of Washington report released 
yesterday.

The study, by the UW's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute, helps confirm a 
trend of rising deaths from prescription opiates both in King County and 
across the country, said the lead researcher, Caleb Banta-Green.

"Prescriptions have gone up so largely in our community. They're 
publicized, they're on TV ... and that's fine," Banta-Green said. "But 
people need to understand that those are strong [drugs] and can be lethal."

According to the study, conducted twice a year, King County had 253 drug 
deaths in 2004, up from 186 in 2003. King County had 92 cocaine-related 
deaths in 2004, a 10-year peak. And one of every five of all drug deaths 
involved a combination of over-the-counter or prescription drugs with other 
illicit substances.

King County had 118 prescription-opiate deaths in 2004, up from 84 in 2003 
and 28 in 1997.

Drug-related deaths are also on the rise in Snohomish County, according to 
death-certificate data collected by the state Department of Social and 
Health Services. There were 61 drug-related deaths in 2000 in Snohomish 
County and 87 in 2003, the most recent year for which statistics were 
available.

Banta-Green is also part of a national network of researchers from 21 large 
metropolitan areas, such as San Francisco, New Orleans and Philadelphia, 
that produce similar studies. All the cities have reported an increase in 
health problems from prescription opiates, Banta-Green said.

In the Boston area, for example, prescription-opiate-related deaths have 
risen over the past five or six years, said Dan Dooley, a researcher with 
the Boston Public Health Commission. And at the University of Texas, 
Austin, researcher Jane Maxwell said she has seen similar increases in the 
use of prescription opiates, particularly Zanax, and a rise in deaths from 
such drugs.

Banta-Green said some prescription-drug deaths are from users taking too 
much of their own medicine, but other users obtain the drugs from other 
people's medicine cabinets. So he advises that people treat their 
prescription drugs as carefully as they would weapons in their homes.

While prescription-drug deaths are on the rise, cocaine deaths have 
fluctuated over the past decade. The 92 cocaine deaths in King County last 
year compare with 66 in 1997 and 52 in 2003. Banta-Green said he is 
concerned the dialogue surrounding cocaine abuse, which disproportionately 
affects black people, is waning. Drug-policy decisions, he said, should 
focus on all kinds of drug abuse, not just recently popular drugs such as 
methamphetamine.

King County had 18 methamphetamine deaths last year, the same as in 2003. 
Since 1997, there have been 83 methamphetamine deaths in King County, 
compared to 572 cocaine deaths and 759 heroin deaths in the same period.

African Americans make up 5 percent of the King County population, but 
represent 21 percent of cocaine-involved deaths and 42 percent of cocaine 
reports at hospital emergency rooms, the study said.

Rodney Benson, special agent in charge of the Seattle office of the federal 
Drug Enforcement Agency, said that while large quantities of 
methamphetamine have been arriving in the Northwest, cocaine remains a 
constant problem for law enforcement.

Benson said he has lately seen that individual drug traffickers are 
importing several types drugs, rather than just one or two types.

"We'll see a shipment of meth coming ... in the same compartment we'll see 
black-tar heroin, and we'll see cocaine," Benson said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom