Opiates addiction is rising

PROVO — The number of people who sought treatment in 2004 for addictions to opiates — the category of drugs that includes heroin and prescription painkillers such as OxyContin and Lortab — was higher than the number of people who sought treatment for other substance abuse problems.

Recently compiled Utah County Health Department data show that last year in the county, 291 people sought treatment for addiction to opiates. The number was higher than treatment-center admissions for alcohol, cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamines.

Of those 291, 189 people went into treatment for heroin and 102 went into treatment for prescription opiates.

"By the end of the third quarter of 2004, we were on a trajectory where opiate treatment admissions would exceed those for methamphetamine, marijuana and alcohol," Richard Nance, director of the Utah County Division of Substance Abuse, said in a written statement.

Those who treat substance abusers say that opiates are popular because they can produce increased feelings of pleasure, euphoria and relaxation.

"It gives them a high. It gives them a euphoria. It takes away physical pain and emotional pain," said Gordon Bruin, a program services manager in the Division of Substance Abuse.

Bruin has noticed that the people who have recently sought treatment for opiates addiction are often teens or young adults.

Most are white and from the southern part of Utah County, he said.

Religion does not seem to play a big part in the backgrounds of people seeking treatment, said Bruin, who regulates the handful of drug treatment centers in Utah County.

Bruin cannot pinpoint exactly why places like Spanish Fork and Springville seem to have higher rates of opiates abuse.

The drugs simply may be more popular and more available in that area, he said.

Young people who become addicts often start with OxyContin, which they can get from other young people, who may be taking it from their parents' medicine cabinet. Many move on to heroin after they become addicted, Bruin said.

Bruin also knows of adults who get hooked to opiates because they improperly take painkillers prescribed by a physician.

"A kid, nowadays, they're not going to put a needle in their arm," Bruin said. "But they will try a pill."