HEROIN IS ON A KILLING SPREE

Heroin Facts

In Cuyahoga County, heroin-related deaths have tripled in a decade. In
1994, there were 12 deaths; in 2004, there were 37. County coroner
statistics show that the number of young people dying because of heroin
also has increased: From 1995 through 1999, three people age 25 or younger
died. From 2000 through 2004, 19 people age 25 or younger died.

Heroin has increased in availability and purity and has become cheaper,
according to the most recent Ohio Substance Abuse Monitoring Network
Report, issued in June 2004. Intravenous use remained the most common
method among users, but the report noted an emerging group of young users
who snort heroin.

Between 1988 and 1994, the annual number of new heroin users nationally
ranged from 28,000 to 80,000. Between 1995 and 2001, the number of new
heroin users was consistently greater than 100,000 each year, according to
the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Also, approximately 3.7
million Americans reported using heroin at least once in their lifetimes.

Nationally, 3.3 percent of high school students surveyed in 2003 as part of
the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System reported using heroin during
their lifetimes.

Among students surveyed as part of the 2004 Monitoring the Future study
conducted by the University of Michigan, 1.6 percent of U.S. eighth-graders
reported using heroin at least once. In the same survey, 14.1 percent of
eighth-graders, 18.7 percent of 10th-graders and 29.6 percent of
12th-graders reported that heroin was "fairly easy" or "very easy" to obtain.