Some states, including New York, are reporting a rise in heroin use as many addicts shift from costly and harder-to-get prescription opiates to this cheaper alternative. A look at what’s happening in New York:
THE PROBLEM:
New York regularly accounts for about 20 percent of the heroin the federal Drug Enforcement Administration seizes every year. Those seizures have grown by 67 percent in the state over the last five years, a trend investigators attribute in part to high-volume heroin mills operating out of New York City apartments.
Heroin and prescription painkiller investigations have doubled in suburban Rockland County, where a bag of heroin can cost as little as $5 and the drug is being abused by people of all ages and income levels. Treatment facilities also report a rise in numbers: Five years ago, the Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence was serving fewer than 100 families a month. Last month, the council helped more than 850 families; 80 percent of that increase was due to opiate and heroin addiction.
THE NUMBERS:
Opioid overdoses, including those from heroin, killed more than 2,000 New Yorkers in 2011, double the number who died in 2004, according to the New York attorney general’s office.
The New York City Department of Health said fatal heroin-related overdoses increased 71 percent between 2010 and 2012 after four years of decline, and in 2012 had a higher rate than overdose deaths involving any other substance.
SOLUTIONS:
New York state officials just announced that they plan to equip police with an antidote to reverse the effects of overdoses. They will get kits containing two syringes filled with naloxone, two inhalers of the drug, sterile gloves and a booklet on using them.
“Putting this powerful antidote in the hands of every law-enforcement agent in the state will save countless lives,” said Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
Another initiative is aimed at helping people to get better access to treatment. A bill going through the state Senate would amend the state’s insurance law to force providers to approve authorization and payment of substance abuse care. It would require that every policy that provides medical coverage has to include specific coverage for drug and alcohol abuse treatment services that are deemed necessary by a doctor.
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