CDC warns of jump in heroin use

In July, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) released a report warning of a growing heroin epidemic in the United States. While heroin use does not appear to be widespread at local schools, the national numbers are startling.

“Heroin use is increasing at an alarming rate in many parts of society, driven by both the prescription opioid epidemic and cheaper, more available heroin,” CDC Director Tom Frieden said in a statement. 

The report noted that 45 percent of people who used heroin were also addicted to prescription opioid painkillers, illustrating the connection between opioid pills and heroin.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ report “Trends in Heroin Use, 2002-2013,” heroin use more than doubled among young adults ages 18 to 25 in the past decade. Heroin-involved overdose deaths nearly doubled between 2011 and 2013. In 2013, the most recent data available, more than 8,200 people died from a heroin overdose.

There were 681,000 heroin users reported in the country in 2013. However, heroin use remains very rare compared to other drugs. Marijuana is the most common illicit drug with 19.8 million past month users in 2013. 

Recent major drug busts

This spring saw two major busts on heroin stash houses in the northwest Bronx, which attracts drug dealers thanks to the relatively tranquil atmosphere.

May 17 at 210 W. 251st St.

154 lbs. heroin (approximately $50 million street value). Called by the DEA “the biggest bust in the state in the agency’s history and the fourth biggest in the country.” 

Read the story here.

May 28 at 238 W. 238th St.

Part of a ring of sites processing $5 million in heroin.

Our coverage of the bust.