CDC: Heroin use on the rise across most demographics

CEDAR RAPIDS - The rate of women, people ages 18 to 25 and non-Hispanic whites using heroin nationwide has doubled in the last decade, according to findings released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And while heroin use is not broken down by demographics in Iowa, state and local officials said the prevalence of opioid abuse - which includes both heroin and certain prescription drugs - is a growing concern.

'We are seeing the numbers and we are hearing in stories, it's clear that opioids in general - to include the prescription pain relievers and heroin - are impacting Iowans in a negative way,” said Dale Woolery, associate director of the Governor's Office of Drug Control Policy in Des Moines. 'It's an area of emphasis for us.”

According to the Atlanta-based CDC, heroin use has increased among most demographic groups in the United States. For example, the annual average rate of heroin use per 1,000 women from 2002 to 2004 was .08. By 2011 to 2013, that rate had doubled, to 1.6 women per 1,000.

In addition, the rate of 18- to 25-year-olds more than doubled, from 3.5 in 2002 to 2004 to 7.3 in 2011 to 2013. Non-Hispanic whites had a 114 percent increase in the rate of heroin use, going from 1.4 to 3 per 1,000 people.

Rates of heroin use also climbed for men, those 26 years old or older, all income levels and among those with no or private insurance coverage, the CDC report said.

'Substance abuse knows no demographic or geographic boundaries. No one is immune. No one is totally safe,” said Woolery, who noted that Iowa's rates of heroin use are lower than other states. ”Trend lines are going in the wrong direction. We certainly want to do what we can to make this a priority, make Iowans aware this needs to be a priority.”

‘Epidemic'

Erin Foster, Linn County director of prevention at the Area Substance Abuse Council (ASAC), said the 'heroin epidemic” cannot be discussed without also talking about the prescription drug problem. Those who have abused opiate-based pain relievers such as hydrocodone, methadone or fentanyl have a higher chance of becoming heroin addicts.

According to the CDC, people are addicted to prescription opioid painkillers are 40 times more likely to be addicted to heroin.

'Can you 100 percent say they are perfectly correlated? I don't think anyone is saying that,” Foster said. 'Is there a correlation? Absolutely. We can say there's a strong correlation there.”

As prescription pain killers have become harder to obtain with more federal legislation, an increasing number of drug abusers are turning to heroin to support their opioid addictions, experts said.

While Iowa doesn't have heroin use statistics by demographics, Woolery said other statistics show it's a growing problem in Iowa. For example, Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement agents reported seizing 2,851 dosage units of prescription drugs in 2014, up from less than 500 in 2013.

The only other year in the past six that seizures topped 1,500 was in 2011, with some 3,000 dosage units seized. In addition, in 2014 more than 2,900 grams of heroin were taken by law enforcement in Iowa.

Heroin seizures have not topped 500 grams since at least 2009.

There were 923 emergency room visits in the state in 2013 that had opioid use as a casual or contributing factor, and 20 heroin overdose deaths that year. Iowa had not seen more than 10 heroin deaths per year statewide before 2013.

In Linn County, youth survey statistics show that six percent of 11th grade students in the county reported miscuing prescription drugs.

'When this stat was nearly nonexistent not too long ago, the fact that we have 11th-graders saying they're using them is a problem,” ASAC's Foster said.

Foster added that the Area Substance Abuse Counsel reported there has been a 270 percent increase in people seeking substance-abuse treatment who report prescription drugs are their primary, secondary or tertiary reason for seeking treatment.

Among those people, ASAC has seen a 150 percent increase of patients 10 to 19 years old and more than 300 percent increase of patients 25 to 40 year old.

Because of the correlations between prescription drugs and heroin, Foster said the plan is to go after prescription-drug abuse. One avenue is ASAC's Count, Lock and Dispose campaign, which asks parents to monitor and properly dispose of their prescription medications so the drugs will stay out of the hands of children. ASAC also has begun distributing 'tool kits” to doctors who write prescriptions to arm them with information to provide to parents.

Woolery said the Office of Drug Control Policy has directed law enforcement to make heroin trafficking an emphasis of its work and also is advocating the public teach children not to abuse prescription drugs.

'We don't want to leave it unchecked,” Woolery said. 'We want Iowans to be aware of it and address it the best they can.”