Rosecrance
Rockford, IL

According to the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), nationally, heroin use by teens is stable or decreasing. The Northeast and Midwest have the highest levels of use. However, this decline is cautionary as more prescription narcotics abusers switch to heroin.

According to the NDIC, "although heroin use is stable, it could increase as more prescription narcotics abusers switch to heroin. Officials in treatment facilities throughout the country report that many abusers of prescription opiates such as OxyContin, Percocet, and Vicodin eventually begin abusing heroin because it is typically cheaper and easier to obtain, and it provides a more intense high. Treatment officials also report that once an individual switches from prescription opiates to heroin, he or she rarely switches back to exclusively abusing prescription opiates."
Rosecrance Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Thomas Wright, has voiced a concern that "currently available statistics are lagging behind what we are seeing in treatment." While teen heroin use declines, the rates of use in young college-age adults are rising.

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) reports an increase in heroin users in college students from 0.1 percent to 0.2 percent. Additionally, those reporting that they have used heroin at least once in their lifetimes has increased from 1.7 percent in 2005 to 1.9 percent.

Last year about 91,000 persons over the age of 12 used heroin for the first time. Among recent first time heroin users, aged 12 to 49, the average age of first use was 20.7.

Facts provided by the US Drug Enforcement Administration, 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, SAMHSA.)