HEROIN DEATHS ROSE ONE-THIRD IN 2000 -- REPORT

LONDON ( Reuters ) - Deaths related to heroin rose significantly in England and Wales in 2000, according to figures published on Thursday.

Heroin and morphine were implicated in 43 percent of the 1,296 drug-related deaths during the year, said the National Program on Substance Abuse Deaths.

But overall, drug-related deaths fell eight percent from the previous year. There was a significant decline in the number of deaths related to methadone, a heroine substitute available on prescription, as well as in those related to anti-depressants.

The sharpest rise was in fatalities from taking legal pain killers, which rose 84 percent to 401.

Heroin deaths rose by one-third in 2000 to 551, while 27 people died after taking ecstasy, two-thirds more than the previous year.

Brighton on England's south coast remains the area with the highest annual death rate per 100,000 population. The rate grew to 32.3 fatalities.

Approximately 68 percent of those who died through drugs had a history of drug abuse or dependence, the study showed.