Pubdate: Tue, 04 Feb 2014
Source: USA Today (US)
Copyright: 2014 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/625HdBMl
Website: http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/index.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: Donna Leinwand Leger
Page: 2D

HOFFMAN'S DEATH PUTS A FOCUS ON HEROIN'S COMEBACK

In the Past Decade, Addiction Has Hit Epidemic Levels

The death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman of a possible heroin
overdose Sunday is shining a spotlight on an epidemic of opiate
addiction that has soared over the past decade.

Hoffman, 46, was found on the bathroom floor of his New York City
apartment with a syringe in his left arm and glassine bags usually
associated with heroin. Police are investigating substances found in
the apartment, but Hoffman has been open about his drug use, which
included prescription pills and heroin, and his struggle to stay sober.

Hoffman's death follows that of singer and actor Cory Monteith, 31,
from a toxic mixture of heroin and alcohol. Monteith, known for his
role as Finn Hudson on the TV show Glee, died July 13 after spending
time in drug rehab.

Though heroin use is still low compared with marijuana use, law
enforcement officials and drug treatment experts say heroin has made a
comeback after a decade-long outbreak of narcotic painkiller abuse.
Prescription pain pills, such as OxyContin, are opioids that produce a
potent high similar to heroin if abused.

"We're seeing a resurgence of heroin," says Gil Kerlikowske, director
of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. "We used to think of
heroin as an inner-city problem, but it's now a problem we're seeing
across the nation among all populations and all ages."

As authorities crack down on clinics that prescribe pain pills by the
thousands, and pharmaceutical companies change their formulas so the
pills are more difficult to abuse, opiate addicts are turning to
cheaper and more plentiful heroin. An 80-milligram OxyContin pill can
sell for up to $100, while a five-dose-a-day heroin habit costs less
than $60, federal law enforcement officials say.

The number of people 12 and older who regularly abuse OxyContin
dropped from 566,000 in 2010 to 358,000 in 2012, the National Survey
on Drug Use and Health reported in December. The number of regular
heroin users rose from 239,000 in 2010 to 335,000 in 2012.

In New York, where Hoffman lived, heroin is readily
available.

Last month, Drug Enforcement Administration agents shut down what they
described as a "high-volume" heroin mill in a Bronx apartment where
they seized 33 pounds of the drug, worth $8 million, and hundreds of
thousands of tiny glassine bags stamped with "brand names" such as
"NFL," "government shutdown," "iPhone" and "Olympics 2012."

DEA agents believe the mill supplied heroin dealers throughout the
Northeast. "A seizure of this size should open everyone's eyes to the
magnitude of the heroin problem confronting us," says New York Special
Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan.

Health officials in Long Island's Nassau County, a suburb of New York
City, warned Friday that bags of the highly potent prescription
narcotic fentanyl, marketed as heroin, had killed at least two people
and may be involved in three other deaths.

Nationwide, law enforcement, political and health officials are
sounding an alarm over heroin. In Vermont, Gov. Pete Shumlin devoted
his entire annual address to the Legislature last week to heroin addiction.

"In every corner of our state, heroin and opiate drug addictions
threaten us," Shumlin said. "What started as an OxyContin and
prescription-drug addiction problem in Vermont has now grown into a
full-blown heroin crisis."

In Pennsylvania last week, Attorney General Kathleen Kane warned the
public about bags of heroin branded as "Theraflu," "Bud Ice," and
"Income Tax," which contain a deadly mix of heroin and fentanyl. The
combination has been linked to 22 deaths in western Pennsylvania.
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