There is a disturbing trend climbing in America surrounding the use of heroin. A story on ABC News highlighted the connection and referenced the recent death of actor Cory Monteith, which was proclaimed to have been partially the result of heroin use.

The increase in heroin use was predicted by many and has been anticipated due to the skyrocket in prescription painkiller abuse. As cited in the ABC article, heroin is cheaper and stronger than painkillers such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, so it is often the next step downward on the destructive path of opiate addiction.

In 2011, there were 178,000 persons aged 12 or older who had used heroin for the first time within the past 12 months while just six years earlier the number was 90,000. Overall there were 620,000 people in the United States who addmitted to using heroin in 2011, which was up from 373,000 just four years earlier.

Given that the use and abuse of prescription opiates is at an all-time high, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the number of users to top over one million per year in the near future.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Heroin is an opioid drug that is synthesized from morphine, a naturally occurring substance extracted from the seed pod of the Asian opium poppy plant. Heroin usually appears as a white or brown powder or as a black sticky substance, known as “black tar heroin.”

If you would like information on conducting an intervention for heroin addiction for a loved one, contact Family First Intervention today.