Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 1, 1990 TAG: 9007010019
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS LENGTH: Short
Deaths involving cocaine use are declining in some cities.
Fewer cocaine-related cases are coming into hospital emergency rooms, and the percentage of people being taken into police custody who have cocaine in their systems, while still at a high level, has reached a plateau.
These developments, reported this week by participants in a conference convened here by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, dovetail with earlier surveys showing less cocaine consumption in American households and among high school and college students.
"We have multiple indicators that add up to a general picture of a stabilizing situation with a trend toward a decrease in use," said Bernard Gropper, the head of the research program on drugs and crime in the Justice Department's National Institute of Justice.
The experts are still treading cautiously.
The epidemic has grown to such staggering proportions that even an end to that growth will not significantly improve the quality of life in U.S. cities, the researchers here and other drug experts said.
The latest surveys show at least 8 million casual users of cocaine, including as many as 2.2 million frequent or heavy users.
Nicholas J. Kozel, the official with the National Institute on Drug Abuse who directed the conference, and other experts said they believed the epidemic was slowing as a cumulative result of efforts across American society to repudiate cocaine and punish users.
by CNB