Heroin Addiction on the Rise in New York State
A growing number of people are becoming addicted to heroin
in New York state, according to drug treatment counselors and police.
They say many people have switched to heroin from prescription
painkillers, such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, the Associated Press reports.
Police report the people they arrest for heroin often started on
painkillers prescribed by a doctor, then started purchasing them on the
street. They turned to heroin because it is less expensive.
Many areas around the country are seeing a surge in heroin addiction
that stems from prescription drug abuse. A study published in July 2012
in the New England Journal of Medicine
found OxyContin abuse has decreased now that the painkiller has been
reformulated to make it more difficult to misuse. Many people who abused
the drug have switched to heroin.
The study included more than 2,500 people who were dependent on
opioids, who were followed between July 2009 and March 2012. During that
time, there was a 17 percent decrease in OxyContin abuse. In 2010, the
company that makes OxyContin introduced a new version of the drug that
is more difficult to inhale or inject. During the same period, heroin
abuse doubled.
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