According to the 1998 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, which may actually underestimate illicit opiate (heroin) use, an estimated 2.4 million people had used heroin at some time in their lives, and nearly 130,000 of them reported using it within the month preceding the survey. The survey report estimates that there were 81,000 new heroin users in 1997. A large proportion of these recent new users were smoking, snorting, or sniffing heroin, and most (87 percent) were under age 26. In 1992, only 61 percent were younger than 26.
The 1998 Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), which collects data on drug-related hospital emergency department (ED) episodes from 21 metropolitan areas, estimates that 14 percent of all drug-related ED episodes involved heroin. Even more alarming is the fact that between 1991 and 1996, heroin-related ED episodes more than doubled (from 35,898 to 73,846). Among youths aged 12 to 17, heroin-related episodes nearly quadrupled.
NIDA's Community Epidemiology Work Group (CEWG) reported in its December 1999 publication that heroin was mentioned most often as the primary drug of abuse in drug abuse treatment admissions in Baltimore, Boston, Los Angeles, Newark, New York, and San Francisco.
| Drugs of Abuse | ||
|---|---|---|
| Alcohol | Cocaine/Crack | Ecstasy |
| Heroin | Inhalants | Ketamine |
| Meth | Marijuana | Nicotine |
| Ritalin | Steroids | More Resources |
| • Warning Signs of Teenage Drug Abuse | ||
| • Big Changes From Elementary School to Middle School | ||
| • Pressured Tweens & Teens Turn to Alcohol & Drugs | ||
| • Help for the Innocent | ||
| • Americans in Denial About Drug Abuse | ||
| • Sex Under the Influence of Alcohol and Other Drugs | ||
| • Youth Risk Behaviors | ||
| • Impaired Driving and Teenagers | ||
Source: The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
