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Heroin Abuse Skyrockets Among Women, Middle Class

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a new study that more women and individuals in the middle class are becoming addicted to and abusing heroin. Many experts cite the expensive price and difficulty of obtaining prescription painkillers as the reason. 

In it’s most recent study, the CDC found that heroin usage is up sixty percent in women and sixty-three percent in the middle class. Shane Fletcher is a Counselor at Mt. Regis Center for substance abuse.

Probably a large reason for that is that prescription drugs are becoming less accessible with the prescription monitoring programs and that people who were previously using prescription opiates are now turning to heroin. Probably because it’s cheaper.

Another reason that heroin has become more common is because of its accessibility as compared to prescription painkillers. Fletcher says that typically, if someone runs out of a prescription for an opiate like OxyContin, they’ll look for it on the streets. But since heroin is cheaper and easier to find, more people are using it. But sometimes, there are exceptions.

“That’s not always the case. Some people will experiment with a variety of different drugs and they just like heroin- a lot of young adults.”

He also says that heroin abuse is a major problem in Virginia.

“With my former career as a police officer, I still speak to former colleagues that say that heroin use in the Roanoke Valley is growing rapidly. It’s a major problem and it’s going to start taking a lot more lives.”

Fletcher says that he hasn’t necessarily seen an increase of women visiting Mt. Regis, but he noted that most female patients under 30 are there because of opiate abuse.

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