Heroin Increasing In Popularity

Heroin use appears to be increasing in many parts of the country, with some crack users switching to heroin for its price and availability, the nation’s top anti-drug official reported Thursday.

“Heroin of high purity continues to be a major story in many areas of the country with use in the Northeast and South having stabilized at a high level or with increasing use,” said Lee P. Brown, director of the White House Office on National Drug Control Policy.

Brown’s quarterly report on national trends in drug abuse also said that heroin is attracting younger users and that cocaine and marijuana are readily available across the country.

While older users still dominate the heroin market, researchers in New York, Colorado, New Jersey, Connecticut, California and Georgia interviewed by Brown’s office said that younger users are increasing.

Police in New York, Seattle and Washington reported similar trends, but treatment providers said the average heroin user they see remains essentially the same: over 30 years old and male.

Another report found that users spent $49 billion on illicit drugs in 1993, down from $64 billion in 1988. That decrease largely reflected dropping prices, the report said.