Why Heroin Use Is Skyrocketing Across The US

http://www.businessinsider.com ^ | 1/15/14 | Pamela Engel

[BBell]

Heroin abuse has been getting more attention lately.

Last week, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin spent his entire 34-minute State of the State address talking about the state's "full-blown heroin crisis," and law enforcement officials in small cities across New England have noted an increase in heroin use.

Demand for the drug might be coming from people who are hooked on prescription pills.

Health officials and drug experts have started noticing that heroin use has been exploding as states crack down on "pill mills," which get people addicted to Oxycontin and other pain killers even when they don't have a medical need for them.

David DiSalvo writes in Forbes that the increase in heroin use has overlapped with a decrease in pain killer abuse. He notes that the number of new non-medical users of pain killers dropped from 2.2 million in 2002 to 1.9 million in 2012:

The reason may come down to basic economics: Illegally obtained prescription pain killers have become more expensive and harder to get, while the price and difficulty in obtaining heroin have decreased. An 80 mg OxyContin pill runs between $60 to $100 on the street. Heroin costs about $9 a dose. Even among heavy heroin abusers, a day’s worth of the drug is cheaper than a couple hits of Oxy.

As states crack down on pill mills, fewer people will be able to obtain the drugs through a prescription and supply will be cut off. Pain pills become less available and more expensive.

[BBell]

My local newspaper had an article on the same subject last year. I posted it here. In my area the use of heroin has skyrocketed and so have the number of people over dosing.

[allendale]

America is a culture in decline.Today more young people are being killed and demented from opiate use than children were killed and crippled by polio in another era. Incredibly the President of the United States endorses the legalization of marijuana. At the core of every liberal there is decadence.

[Jeff Chandler]

An 80 mg OxyContin pill runs between $60 to $100 on the street. Heroin costs about $9 a dose.

What is wrong with these people? A fifth of vodka is 6 bucks at Fry's.

[hosepipe]

More pot, more heroin... AND several other drugs..
How can it NOT be.?.

Not all Pot-heads do other drugs......... BUT... MANY do...
How many?... must vary.. day to day..

And other pot-heads rarely use other drugs.. BUT still do..
There is a reason they call it.......... “DOPE”..

[Resolute Conservative]

Weak people are searching for an escape from this alternate reality the libs have created. Hard to find joy in life with the country going down the toilet and you are on the bottom of the flush.

[skinkinthegrass]

a (non-using) friend in the medical field had said, heroin was cheaper than crack.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Typical 19th Century "Wild West" Opium Den.

[hosepipe]

Some people actually WANT to be “Dopes”...

[greene66]

America, circa 2014... dope, homo marriage, open-borders, socialism.

No doubt left in my mind anymore that I’m living through and witnessing the death of my country.

[LucianOfSamasota]

Listening to Obama explain his policies is ALMOST enough to make me try heroin.

ALMOST.

[Old Yeller]

John 3:19
19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

[Popman]

Wow...I have 6 K in pills tucked in the back of my sock drawer....

60 oxy pills left over from a knee surgery scrip....

I took about one days worth and said forget this crap....

[SkyPilot]

Incredibly the President of the United States endorses the legalization of marijuana. At the core of every liberal there is decadence.

The vortex cycle down the drain to depravity is getting faster and faster now....

[Mercat]

Save five and throw the rest away, flush them.

[1_Rain_Drop]

it’s cheaper and healthier to just turn off the TV and radio.

[Gen.Blather]

Basic economics. If there’s a demand there will be a supply. The War on Drugs has been a disastrous failure. It has militarized our police and made drugs cheaper than they’ve ever been. Stopping drugs is like trying to kill the mythical hydra. You chop one head off and two more appear to replace it. We have to stop the demand. What drives the demand? Well, Hollywood glamorizing it, for one. Not going after the well connected users for another. Tolerating and subsidizing the use by allowing welfare fits in there. (A renter I had paid for her alcohol and cigarettes by selling her EBT card purchases. Turns out she was doing marijuana as well.) I’m sure the list goes on and on.

[Jonty30]

And jail juice is free.

[Ghost of SVR4]

I hear ya...I had my first Vicodin a couple years ago; said NOPE to that. I can see why people get addicted (I can’t lie, the stuff was great for my pain, but my pain was temporary).

[Ol' Dan Tucker]

An 80 mg OxyContin pill runs between $60 to $100 on the street. Heroin costs about $9 a dose. Even among heavy heroin abusers, a day’s worth of the drug is cheaper than a couple hits of Oxy.

Meanwhile, back in Afghanistan, US troops continue to guard a boom in opium crop growth. (See: Afghanistan opium crop cultivation rises 36 per cent, production up 49 per cent)

[Jonty30]

When I got my wisdom teeth pulled, I forgot to take the T-4’s the dentist gave me to deal with the pain. The first night was horrific with the pain horrific everytime I pressed my teeth together, but after that it wasn’t a problem.