As opioids become more difficult and expensive to abuse,
heroin use is on the rise in Florida, according to law enforcement
officials. A similar trend has been reported around the country.
The Miami Herald
reports an analysis of drug-related deaths in 2011 shows heroin is one
of the state’s most harmful drugs. Heroin-related deaths increased by
18.8 percent, to 62 deaths, compared with the previous year. The number
of deaths from heroin use is down from a high of 270 in 2001, the
newspaper notes.
The recent increase is worrying to local drug rehabilitation experts.
They report seeing more patients who have switched from oxycodone or
other prescription drugs to heroin in the last year.
“When I ask my patients, they say, ‘Yeah, I couldn’t get oxycodone,
and now I’m using heroin, four or five bags,’” Dr. Patricia Junquera of
Jackson Memorial Hospital’s detox unit told the newspaper. “I think more
people are switching to heroin.’’
A study published in July 2012
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 researchers reported in the New
England Journal of Medicine. In 2010, the company that makes OxyContin
introduced a new version of the drug that is more difficult to inhale or
inject.
Florida has taken a number of measures
in the past several years designed to reduce prescription drug abuse.
In June 2011, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed into law a bill
designed to cut down on prescription drug abuse by controlling “pill
mills” in the state. The law authorized the creation of a
prescription-drug monitoring database to reduce doctor-shopping by
people looking to collect multiple painkiller prescriptions. The
legislation also imposed new penalties for physicians who overprescribe
medication and imposes stricter rules for operating pharmacies.
