News (Media Awareness Project) - US CT: Heroin Use Increasing, Drug Agency Reports |
| Title: | US CT: Heroin Use Increasing, Drug Agency Reports |
| Published On: | 2002-07-04 |
| Source: | Republican-American (CT) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-01-23 00:45:01 |
HEROIN USE INCREASING, DRUG AGENCY REPORTS
HARTFORD - A flood of cheap heroin has driven up the number of heroin
addicts seeking treatment at publicly-funded centers in Connecticut, the
state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services has reported.
Admissions for heroin abuse at public treatment facilities increased from
31 percent of substance abusers in 1997 to 44 percent last year, the agency
reported.
The treatment centers admitted nearly 50,000 patients last year.
The increase in admissions to the publicly funded programs - which often
serve low-income addicts - coincided with a rise in cheap heroin entering
the United States, state officials said.
"We've been concerned for several years and tracking for a while," Sam
Segal, the director of substance abuse policy for the department, the
Journal Inquirer of Manchester quoted him as saying Wednesday. Right now,
"people who claim opiates as a primary substance occupy over half of the
treatment beds in the state."
Heroin is not the most commonly abused substance in Connecticut, but
statistics show that its use has increased while other substance abuse has
declined.
Alcohol is still the most commonly identified problem substance.
Sixty-three percent of those seeking treatment were alcohol abusers last year.
In 1997, that proportion was 75 percent.
Likewise, treatment for cocaine and marijuana addictions have also dipped,
from 48 percent to 41 percent, and from 24 to 22 percent, respectively.
As cocaine fell out of style in the 1990s, Colombian drug lords entered the
heroin trade, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Colombian traffickers used their distribution system to flood the market
with highly pure heroin at cut-rate prices.
Much of the Colombian heroin eventually makes its way to major metropolitan
cities, such as New York. The traffic pattern from New York to Maine is
bringing heroin to Connecticut, officials said.
"With our close proximity to New York," said Segal, "it's a great market
here for people to start snorting."
HARTFORD - A flood of cheap heroin has driven up the number of heroin
addicts seeking treatment at publicly-funded centers in Connecticut, the
state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services has reported.
Admissions for heroin abuse at public treatment facilities increased from
31 percent of substance abusers in 1997 to 44 percent last year, the agency
reported.
The treatment centers admitted nearly 50,000 patients last year.
The increase in admissions to the publicly funded programs - which often
serve low-income addicts - coincided with a rise in cheap heroin entering
the United States, state officials said.
"We've been concerned for several years and tracking for a while," Sam
Segal, the director of substance abuse policy for the department, the
Journal Inquirer of Manchester quoted him as saying Wednesday. Right now,
"people who claim opiates as a primary substance occupy over half of the
treatment beds in the state."
Heroin is not the most commonly abused substance in Connecticut, but
statistics show that its use has increased while other substance abuse has
declined.
Alcohol is still the most commonly identified problem substance.
Sixty-three percent of those seeking treatment were alcohol abusers last year.
In 1997, that proportion was 75 percent.
Likewise, treatment for cocaine and marijuana addictions have also dipped,
from 48 percent to 41 percent, and from 24 to 22 percent, respectively.
As cocaine fell out of style in the 1990s, Colombian drug lords entered the
heroin trade, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Colombian traffickers used their distribution system to flood the market
with highly pure heroin at cut-rate prices.
Much of the Colombian heroin eventually makes its way to major metropolitan
cities, such as New York. The traffic pattern from New York to Maine is
bringing heroin to Connecticut, officials said.
"With our close proximity to New York," said Segal, "it's a great market
here for people to start snorting."
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