The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) released the 2016 National Heroin Threat Assessment Summary – Updated (NHTA) on June 27. The report outlines the expanding public health crisis afflicting America due to the use and abuse of heroin and other opioid drugs. Some key facts:
- The number of people reporting current heroin use nearly tripled between 2007 (161,000) and 2014 (435,000).
- Deaths due to synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl and its analogues, increased 79 percent from 2013 to 2014.
- Deaths involving heroin more than tripled between 2010 (3,036) and 2014 (10,574) – a rate faster than other illicit drugs.
Read more at: https://www.dea.gov/divisions/hq/2016/hq062716.shtml
Source: United States Drug Enforcement Administration – June 27, 2016
See related article: Heroin overdose deaths in America tripled over four years available at: https://news.vice.com/article/heroin-deaths-in-america-tripled-over-four-years
