Between 2010 and 2012, U.S. fatalities from heroin overdoses doubled within the 28 states in which information was obtainable, according to one study that was published recently by the CDC.
The increase in heroin-associated fatalities from 1.0 – 2.1 per 100,000 individuals held true for males and females alike across every age group and race except for Alaskan natives and America Indians.
The increase in heroin overdose fatalities from 1,779 to 3,665 comes as fatalities from prescription painkillers such as OxyContin—occasionally called ‘hillbilly heroin’—have fallen or leveled off around most of the country within recent years, although they remain more typical than overdoses form heroin. In general, fatalities from drug overdose have been on the rise in the United States over the last two decades.
Experts think the rise in heroin fatalities might be connected with a crackdown upon abuse of prescription ‘opioid’ painkillers, and make the synthetic drugs pricier during a time as heroin is flooding the marketplace. Read article here or more on the health effects of heroin here.
