Heroin Use on Rise in U.S.

From indystar.com: While the drug still makes up a minority of the cases at Indianapolis' drug court, heroin is increasingly easy to find on the city's streets, according to police, as it is elsewhere in Indiana and the nation.

"I'm seeing a lot, lot more heroin," said Jamie Guilfoy, an IPD narcotics detective since 2001. "I never saw any up until the last year."

The emerging trend is nationwide, with cities such as Minneapolis; Dallas; Covington, Ky.; and Salt Lake City also reporting heroin upswings. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has confiscated heroin in slightly declining amounts the past two years, but from 2001 to 2005, seizures were up more than 50 percent compared with the previous five years.

The trend is alarming, noted a U.S. Justice Department study released last week, because heroin, more than other abused drugs, is a multifaceted plague.

"Although overall abuse levels for heroin are lower than levels for other drugs, including cocaine and marijuana, the consequences of heroin abuse are far-reaching in terms of heroin-related deaths, treatment admissions and emergency department mentions," said the National Drug Threat Assessment 2007. Rest of Article. . . [Mark Godsey]