COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Some states are reporting a rise in heroin use as many addicts shift from more costly and harder-to-get prescription opiates to this cheaper alternative.
THE ISSUE:
In South Carolina, it appears that problems with alcohol or cocaine and marijuana far outstrip heroin addictions, according to figures compiled by the Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services.
THE NUMBERS:
The state Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services’ figures covering the 10 years from 2003 to 2012 show, for example, that in 2012 there were 27,344 people who entered a treatment center in the state where their primary problem was with alcohol, or other drugs, and needed treatment.
Of those, 398 people identified their primary problem as heroin. The most people - 15,410 - reported alcohol as their primary problem; 6,150 people reported marijuana and 1,591 reported cocaine or crack as their primary problem.
In 2003, for example, the agency’s numbers show 430 people entered treatment centers with heroin as their primary problem. Some 13,993 people entered and reported alcohol as their primary problem, and 4,726 people reported marijuana and 3,648 people reported the problem to be cocaine or crack.
The numbers of deaths due to heroin overdose are compiled from death certificates by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. The statistics DHEC supplied go back to 1999.
That year, two people in the state died from a heroin overdose, compared with nine the following year. The numbers remained in single digits through 2008, when eight deaths were attributed to heroin overdoses. Since then, no more than 15 people died in any single year due from overdosing on heroin.
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