Source: CNN (US) Contact: http://www.cnn.com/ Copyright: 1998 Cable News Network, Inc. A Time Warner Company The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. Pubdate: Mon, 7 Dec 1998 HEROIN USE ON THE RISE AMONG U.S. TEENS, EXPERTS SAY CHICAGO (CNN) -- With a cheaper, more potent product on the market, heroin use among American teen-agers has more than doubled since 1990, according to a study released Monday. The study, based on an analysis of more than 80 existing studies and other resources on substance abuse, is published in this month's issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The study found the proportion of American 12th-graders who had used heroin doubled between 1990 and 1996, from 0.9 percent to 1.8 percent. The rates edged up again last year, to 2.1 percent. Some states reported even higher percentages, according to the study's author, Dr. Richard H. Schwartz of the Inova Hospital for Children in Falls Church, Virginia. "The problem is growing, and adults and teens alike need to be more educated about the prevalence and dangers of heroin," Schwartz said. While the overall number of adolescents using heroin remains low, the highly addictive nature of the drug and the devastating consequences of addiction make the trend troubling, he said. "Heroin imported from Colombia and from Mexico is now cheaper and of high potency, permitting novices to start with nasal administration of the drug," he said. Schwartz said the average price of heroin has dropped by nearly two-thirds, while purity has gone from 10 percent to more than 50 percent. "Most (U.S.) adolescents now initiate heroin use by snorting it; however, frequent use of heroin by any route leads to tolerance and intense drug craving," he added. Young people who may be more likely to start using the drug are those whose school grades are falling and who also smoke cigarettes and commit antisocial acts for rebellion or amusement, he said. Snorting attracts more middle-class teens Heroin use is becoming more attractive to middle-class youngsters, experts said, with many of them snorting the drug in the mistaken belief that it's less addictive than shooting up. Dr. Alan I. Leshner, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said the increase in heroin use is similar to that observed for cocaine and appears to be leveling off. Leshner said the increase in purity "is drawing a generation of heroin sniffers, snorters, intranasal users, rather than injectors." "They foolishly think if you don't inject it, it's not addicting, which is incredibly wrong," he said. "And so you're seeing middle-class, upper middle-class yuppies using heroin, where five years ago, they wouldn't go near it." - --- Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson