Source: New York Times (Ny) Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ Pubdate: 21 Sep 1998 Author: Christopher S. Wren HEROIN USE SEEN DECLINING AMONG YOUNG SUSPECTED OFFENDERS IN MANHATTAN New Haven -- Heroin use and the injection of drugs have declined sharply among young people who were arrested in manhattan and some other urban centers, according to a survey of their drug habits. The survey by Dr. Bruce D. Johnson and Dr. Andrew Golub, sociological researchers who chart the drug culture of new york city's streets, was presented this weekend at a conference of policy specialists, historians and medical experts, who gathered at Yale university to review the notorious rise of heroin since it was introduced to the world 100 years ago as a cough syrup. The finding that more young offenders, who tend to be black or hispanic and poor, were shunning heroin surprised some conference participants, because it conflicts with reports that heroin is increasingly popular nationwide among young users who consider it glamorous. But Dr. Johnson, who directs a unit of the nonprofit national development and research institutes in manhattan, warned against comparing his survey with more sweeping studies like the federal government's annual national household survey on drug abuse. The two surveys use different methods and analyze different populations of drug users. They also vary in measuring the patterns and extent of drug use. The latest federal survey released in august estimated that 171,000 americans tried heroin for the first time in 1996, compared with 141,000 new users in 1995. They have also grown younger, the study found, with 90 percent of new initiates to heroin not yet 26 years old. One hypothesis advanced by Dr. Johnson and several other experts is that young people growing up in impoverished neighborhoods may be choosing not to inject or smoke heroin because they have seen too many relatives and older friends become addicted and contract the aids virus after shooting up. "They have had a hard enough experience that they do not want to get involved with heroin," Dr. Johnson said. "They do not want to get involved with injection; they do not want to get aids." But he added, "I can't say anything about heroin use by people outside that pool of arrestees." With no such personal experience, more affluent adolescents are tempted to try heroin because its greater availability and purity make it easy to snort or smoke. The heroin chic portrayed in films, rock music and fashion also entices younger users, said jill jonnes, the author of "hep cats, narcs and pipe dreams," an american history of illegal drug use. Dr. David nurco, a research professor at the university of maryland medical school, said that 40 percent of heroin users had never been arrested, and that it took an average of five years from the onset of addiction until the first arrest. The survey by Dr. Golub and Dr. Johnson relied on the findings of the arrestee drug abuse monitoring program, better known by its acronym adam, which monitors illicit drug use by offenders arrested in 23 urban areas across the country. The program, which was previously called drug use forecasting, is run by the national institute of justice, a research arm of the justice department. It collected data from 13,000 arrestees booked for criminal offenses in manhattan from 1987 to 1997, using interviews and urine tests to verify their drug use. Dr. Johnson and Dr. Golub studied so-called "birth cohorts" of inner-city residents who share attitudes that set them apart them from other generations of drug users. Among manhattan arrestees born in 1949, 52 percent reported injecting drugs, mainly heroin, compared with 15 percent of those born in 1965 and only 1 percent of those born in 1977. But 62 percent of the arrestees born in 1977 tested positive for marijuana, compared with 12 percent of those born in 1949. Dr. Johnson said his findings in manhattan could change when the justice department expands its program to include new york city's four other boroughs. Heroin use by suspected offenders has also declined noticeably in chicago, los angeles and washington, among other cities. Dr. David musto, the child psychiatrist and heroin expert at Yale medical school who organized the conference, told the participants, "our nation's involvement with heroin over the past century teaches us not to underestimate its attraction." Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company - --- Checked-by: Pat Dolan