The Riverview School District, which includes Cedarcrest High School in Duvall, is among several working to determine the potential depth and scope of heroin use by students there, after an investigation into the increasing use of the drug among youth in parts of King County.

97.3 KIRO FM reported Wednesday that law enforcement agencies have noticed a serious increase in the number of young adults hooked on heroin in areas like the Snoqualmie Valley, including the towns of Preston, Fall City, Carnation and Duvall.

Meanwhile, the University of Washington's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute has released early statistics from the first part of 2011 that indicate more young adults are seeking treatment for heroin use, a good indicator that an increasing number of youth have begun using the drug.

"As drug treatment admissions decline overall, the only drug that appears to be increasing in numbers is heroin," said the report, released Wednesday by ADAI Research Scientist Caleb Banta-Green.

Dr. Anthony Smith, assistant superintendent at Riverview, told KIRO FM that he contacted the police chief in Duvall after hearing about the trend. He said he was unaware of any behavioral problems involving heroin at the district in the past year.

"We have not been experiencing issues at the high school campus as related to heroin specifically," he said. "I have not had formal conversations with law enforcement about that drug specifically as being a drug of prevalence in our community."

Dr. Smith said police have spoken to teachers about drugs like OxyContin, ecstasy, and methamphetamine, but not heroin.

"I'm not saying it's not a problem," he said. "The issue they [police] are talking to you about, right now at least at my level they have not been talking to me specifically about it."

Duvall Police Chief Glenn Merryman said Wednesday that heroin has been a growing problem among young adults in their community for at least the past two years, but he does not believe that the drug has made its way to high schooled-aged teens there.

"We haven't seen a pattern of that," Chief Merryman told KIRO FM. "We're not seeing the heroin cases show up in that younger age group within the high school itself. Our objective with the high school would be to help educate these young people that there are people not much older than you who are following these paths. We're here to let you know the consequences and what it does to you, your life and your family."

Merryman said his officers have spoken to school officials in Duvall about heroin use in the past, and are prepared to work with the district and the community to keep the drug out of the hands of students.

Brandi Kruse, 97.3 KIRO FM

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