CRIME REPORT: The “demon drug” epidemic is back once more on the front pages. Following the overdose death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman in New York on February 2, news outlets large and small, foreign and domestic, traditional and alternative, have declared a new “heroin epidemic” in the U.S…
“There’s nothing new under the sun about heroin,” says Ernest Drucker, an epidemiologist associated with both Columbia University and John Jay College of Criminal Justice who has studied heroin use for four decades.
“It is what it is and what it has always has been: a drug used by about 1 million Americans each year.
While there is some ebb and flow in the figures over short terms, the long-term trend in heroin use has been fairly stable, Drucker maintains… (more)
EDITOR: However, Drucker elaborates to NewsLanc:
“The only thing that got lost in the discussion is the significance of the rise in ODs (overdoses) associated with Pharmaceuticals – and how they’ve both enlarged the total population of opiate users and its composition to include many more white middle class users…
The old number of Heroin users was stable for decades – but we are in a new game now – one dominated by prescription opioids – often in combination with other psych drugs, tranquilizers, alcohol, etc., a lethal mix.”
EDITOR: The pressure by law enforcers to curtail inappropriate prescribing of opioids has brought about a situation where doctors are intimidated and hesitant to prescribe. Also, because of varying metabolism rates among individuals, there is a huge range of the amount of opioids necessary and appropriate for effective treatment. The result is that many who require greater amounts are severely under treated and seek to supplement with street heroin.
