Heroin Abuse Reported On The Rise In Seattle Doctor Says Use Not Restricted To Any One Group Or Neighborhood

Drug abuse generally is sending fewer people to emergency rooms in the Seattle area, a nationwide hospital survey shows.

But there was a 15 percent increase in heroin-related ER visits here, though they declined in the country as a whole.

Since 1990, mentions of heroin use by people seeking medical help in Seattle-area emergency rooms have quadrupled.

At issue are “all manner of people,” said Dr. Michael Copass, medical director of emergency services at Harborview Medical Center. “The only exceptions are the very young and the very old.”

He said heroin use exists in all of the city’s neighborhoods.

Copass’ emergency room participates in the annual Drug Abuse Warning Network survey, in which selected hospitals note how many people come to emergency rooms with drug-related problems, and what drug is involved.

In announcing the 1996 results of the survey, the White House noted a 6 percent decline in drug-related trips to emergency rooms and said data for incidents involving cocaine, heroin and marijuana changed little from 1995.

According to the survey, there has been a drop in drug-related cases in emergency rooms in Seattle and 20 other metropolitan areas since the numbers peaked in 1994.

In Seattle, such cases dropped 4 percent in 1996. Local hospitals reported fewer cocaine- and marijuana-related cases and a significant drop in cases involving methamphetamines.

But the number of heroin cases has been growing since 1990.

Heroin was the drug most often mentioned by people seeking help in Seattle-area emergency rooms. On a per capita basis, heroin led to emergency-room visits more often in only three other metropolitan areas: Baltimore, Newark, N.J., and San Francisco.

Although final figures have yet to be compiled, the 1997 death rate from drug overdoses appears to have changed little from 1996, according to the King County medical examiner’s office. About 10 deaths a month are tied to heroin use.

In 1996, King County recorded 215 drug deaths, including 134 from opiates, typically heroin. Medical tests also detected alcohol and cocaine in a significant number of people who died after heroin injections.

In 1995, King County recorded 178 drug deaths, including what was then a record 132 deaths tied to opiate use.

A local health department report completed in December notes heroin was the primary drug for about 20 percent of those people seeking drug-abuse treatment in King County in the past two years. It ranked second to alcohol, the primary drug of 47 percent of those seeking treatment.

“Our waiting list is continuing to build,” said Ron Jackson, executive director of Seattle-based Evergreen Treatment Services. Evergreen treats 650 heroin addicts at a time, admitting 50 new addicts every month.

Those who die from heroin abuse in King County tend to be white, while those arrested for heroin offenses tend to be black. More than three-quarters of those seeking treatment at Evergreen are white.

Cost is part of the appeal - “Heroin is dirt cheap in this town,” Copass said.

The price for the drug - $80 to $100 per gram - hasn’t changed much in recent years, Jackson said.

Public health officials say intravenous drug abuse also poses an additional risk of HIV infection when needles are shared.