An Associated Press (AP) story that hit the web on Monday talked about the increased number of cheaper and purer heroin entering the U.S. through Mexico and contributing to the dramatic rise in heroin-related overdose deaths.
The article cites that there were about 2,000 deaths from heroin overdoses in 2000, and they were over 3,000 by 2008 with only 36 states reporting. That is a 50% increase in less than a decade, and there was a 20% increase just from ’06 to ’08.
While the increased availability and purity of Mexican black tar or brown heroin may be a culprit, you also have to draw parallels with the increase in prescription painkiller abuse. As I have stated, there is a hidden heroin addiction epidemic where people addicted to painkillers wind up turning to heroin for a stronger and cheaper fix to continue getting high or even to just keep from experiencing withdrawal symptoms.
This is very much a created demand for the drug, and if I were more of a conspiracy theorist I would tell you that it has been carefully orchestrated and that there are some of the same hands in the pots of both the legal and illegal opiate trade.
We will continue monitoring admission trends for drug rehabs to document this prediction (I predicted the prescription drug addiction outbreak many years ago as well) and also keep promoting successful rehabilitation options to help people permanently recover.