Pubdate: Sun, 16 Feb 2014 Source: Tampa Tribune (FL) Copyright: 2014 The Tribune Co. Contact: http://tbo.com/list/news-opinion-letters/ Website: http://www.tampatrib.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/446 Author: Jose Patino Girona, Tribune Staff EXPERTS WARN HEROIN COULD BE NEXT EPIDEMIC TAMPA - Heroin deaths across the Tampa Bay area remain relatively low, but experts warn the crackdown on prescription drug abuse could reverse that trend. Hillsborough County reported two heroin deaths in 2012 and two in 2011. Pinellas and Pasco counties, which are grouped together in Florida Department of Law Enforcement statistics, reported one death each in 2012 and 2011. Law enforcement officials and drug experts, though, say they expect to see more addicts turning to heroin as Florida clamps down on prescription drug abuse, which has risen to epidemic levels in recent years. Hillsborough County reported 400 prescription drug-related deaths in 2012. In the combined Pinellas and Pasco area, 543 such deaths were reported that year, according to state records. In 2011, those figures were higher. There were 431 deaths in Hillsborough and 624 in Pinellas-Pasco. Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Debbie Carter said the agency already has seen an increase in heroin usage. "We're attributing that to the fact with all the ordinances at the pain clinics it's hard to get prescriptions like that so they (the users) are turning to heroin," Carter said. National attention to heroin use has increased since Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman died recently from an apparent heroin overdose. National news reports also recently spotlighted 22 deaths in western Pennsylvania attributed to tainted heroin. James Hall, a drug abuse epidemiologist at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, serves on the national epidemiology panel for the National Institute on Drug Abuse. He said he thinks the shift from prescription drugs to heroin is already underway. "It's probably going on right now, but the data is lacking," Hall said. Hall said there is a reduction in prescription pill abuse because of state laws designed to attack pill mills. Now people addicted to prescription drugs such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, methadone or morphine are starting to turn to heroin because of its accessibility, low cost and similar effect on the brain, he said. In 2011, Florida began taking action to end the state's nationwide reputation as a pill mill hotbed. New legislation created an online database that tracks prescriptions of narcotic-grade drugs. The law mandated inspections, financial disclosure and criminal background checks for pharmacy owners and employees. Standards were also raised for doctors prescribing narcotic-grade pills. Doctors must register with the state Department of Health, and penalties were increased for physicians who overprescribe. The law banned pain physicians from dispensing pills such as hydrocodone and oxycodone. But lawmakers focused on the supply side and failed to address demand by not expanding the role of treatment and prevention, Hall said. "(You have to) deal with the addiction," he said. Clamping down on the supply of prescription drugs but not treating the addiction, Hall said, leaves addicts looking for their next cheap fix. Heroin fits that bill. The street price for heroin has declined in the past two years, Hall said, and is much cheaper than buying prescription pills on the black market. Heroin is popular in the 18-to-29 age group, with twice as many male users as females, he said. Gabriel de Erausquin, University of South Florida College of Health professor of psychiatry and neurology, said heroin easily hijacks the brain's reward system, which tells the user he's having a good time and to repeat the process. It's "the most highly addictive drug that we have around," de Erausquin said. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D