Study: Heroin use is higher than a decade ago

Far more people in the USA use heroin than a decade ago, a study from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found.

From 2002 through 2007, heroin use was relatively stable with fewer than 400,000 users, the study reported. The number ticked up to 455,000 in 2008, then shot up to 582,000 in 2009. In 2013, the latest year available, 681,000 people used heroin in the previous year.

Most were adults 26 or older, but 31,000 teenagers used heroin in 2013, said the study, made public Thursday. It analyzed data from the annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which surveys and interviews 70,000 people nationwide.

"The heroin problem in the United States has not improved in the past decade," the report said.

SAMHSA Administrator Pamela Hyde called the level of heroin use in the United States "alarming."

Still, heroin use in the USA lags far behind use of other substances such as prescription painkillers and marijuana. Less than a third of 1% of the population used heroin in 2013. About 13% of the population 12 or older, 33 million people, used marijuana in 2013, and 4%, 11 million people, abused prescription painkillers.

Heroin use spiked around the time that pharmaceutical companies developed painkillers that were difficult to crush and snort for a high, and states cracked down on over-prescribing doctors, shrinking the supply of prescription narcotic opioids and increasing street prices for drugs such as OxyContin and Vicodin. Some addicts turned to cheaper heroin, an opiate that offers a high similar to that of prescription painkillers.

However, the study did not find a strong correlation between the growing number of heroin users and the crackdown on prescription painkillers. The number of people who said they used heroin for the first time grew from 117,000 in 2002 to 169,000 in 2013, and it spiked to 187,000 in 2009.

"Although research indicates that people who previously misused prescription pain relievers were more likely to initiate heroin use than people who had not misused prescription pain relievers, most people who misuse prescription pain relievers do not progress to heroin use," the study found.

Along with use, addiction also grew. The number of people addicted to heroin rose from a low of 214,000 in 2002 to 517,000 in 2013.

The growing number of people needing treatment for heroin may overwhelm treatment providers, which are already operating at capacity, the study said.