Heroin (MAP)

Washington Post, 07 Mar 2014 - From the beginning, the U.S. government's decade-long crackdown on abuse of prescription drugs has run an unsettling risk: that arresting doctors and shuttering "pill mills" would inadvertently fuel a new epidemic of heroin use. State and federal officials have pressed their campaign against prescription-drug abuse with urgency, trying to contain a scourge that kills more than 16,000 people each year. The crackdown has helped reduce the illegal use of some medications and raised awareness of their dangers.

International New York Times, 06 Mar 2014 - BENNINGTON, Vt. - Stephanie Predel, a stick-thin 23-year-old freshly out of jail, said she was off heroin. But she knows precisely where she could get more drugs if she ever wanted them - at the support meetings for addicts. "I can get most of my drugs right at the meeting," she said. "Drug dealers go because they know they're going to get business." She added, "People are going into the bathroom to get high."

Maple Ridge News, 26 Feb 2014 - Event Focuses on Danish Documentary, Takes Place at Riverside Centre Anyone for Coffee and Heroin? That facetious invitation is the name of a documentary that will be one of the highlights of a forum in Maple Ridge next week about the prescription heroin controversy.

Chicago Sun-Times, 24 Feb 2014 - The hidden scourge of heroin addiction has been sneaking up on Illinois, and we need far better counter-measures before more people die needlessly. As state Rep. Lou Lang (DSkokie) says, "What we are doing now is failing."

Chronicle Herald, 12 Feb 2014 - Street drug rampant in bigger cities but pills main problem here The street drug that likely felled actor Philip Seymour Hoffman early this month has never had much of a presence in Halifax, police say.

Washington Post, 11 Feb 2014 - An Overdose Almost Killed Me. but I Couldn't Make Myself Stop. Ben Cimons, 23, writes of his struggle with the seductive drug that almost killed him. Recently I received an e-mail from my mother with a link to the harrowing tale of a 16-year-old Northern Virginia girl who overdosed on heroin and died, and whose companions had dumped her body. My mom wrote that she found the story "terrifying, because that easily could have been you. I thank God every day that it wasn't, and that you are safe and healthy."

The News-Item, 08 Feb 2014 - Heroin, too often in the headlines of this publication, continued to make news across Pennsylvania and the nation this week. The death of Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman at the hands of this drug on Sunday at his Greenwich Village apartment brought a new perspective to those who don't see heroin addicts as rich or famous.

Albuquerque Journal, 08 Feb 2014 - Heroin is back - with a vengeance. It never really disappeared from the drug-culture landscape, of course, but its popularity center has widened these days. It's no longer the drug of choice for only the down-and-out habitual street druggie. Today, heroin has become a favorite of many middle and upper-class folks who have lost their way in the search to find pain relief.

Standard-Speaker, 08 Feb 2014 - The brilliant actor Philip Seymour Hoffman's death Feb. 2 vaulted heroin to the front page. Police found Hoffman dead in his bathroom with a needle in his arm and several packets of heroin nearby. But the preceding weeks revealed the destructive power of heroin and worse, its staying power.

Standard-Speaker, 08 Feb 2014 - When my kids were little, an older and more experienced mother told me that one key to raising kids safely is to limit the number of "nos" to what really matters and insist firmly on those. Motorcycles and heroin, she said, which seems like a pretty good list. I added driving drunk or getting in a car with someone who had been drinking. I left heroin on the list, even though heroin use is totally foreign to me. I have friends and family who have struggled with alcohol (mostly) and other drugs, but heroin is outside of my life experience. That may be why Philip Seymour Hoffman's death hit me, and many others, so hard.

New York Times, 07 Feb 2014 - PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN, who died of an apparent heroin overdose on Sunday, was just one of hundreds of New Yorkers who fall victim to this drug each year. Heroin-related deaths increased 84 percent from 2010 to 2012 in New York City and occur at a higher rate - 52 percent - - than overdose deaths involving any other substance. I am an emergency physician at NYU Langone Medical Center and Bellevue Hospital, but I rarely see victims die of heroin overdose because most fatalities occur before patients get to the hospital. Overdoses often take place over one to three hours. People just slowly stop breathing; often they are assumed to be sleeping deeply, or they are alone.

East Valley Tribune, 07 Feb 2014 - It's back. Actually, it was never gone. I'm talking about heroin. The drug of choice for a growing number of people and I'm not just talking your poor white, Latin or African-American drug addict that's the favorite portrayal for a thieving heroin shooting junkie.

Star-News, 06 Feb 2014 - The death of Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman from an apparent heroin overdose is but a high-profile example of what plays out every day in Main Street America. The main difference is that most of those victims remain virtually anonymous, statistical casualties in a futile war on drugs. Hoffman died Sunday in a New York, but our corner of North Carolina is not immune to the addiction that drives the illegal drug trade. Commenting on the latest crime report, Wilmington Police Chief Ralph Evangelous blamed heroin as a factor in the recent increase in violent crimes. It's cheaper than ever, and more potent. Also more deadly.

Metro, 06 Feb 2014 - Dangerous drug in spotlight after death of Oscar winner Calgary police seized heroin more often in 2013 than the year prior, including some laced with a deadly painkiller known as fentanyl. Use of both drugs have been thrust into the spotlight in recent days following the death of award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Wall Street Journal, 04 Feb 2014 - The death of Philip Seymour Hoffman From an Apparent Heroin Overdose Underscores the Drug's Resurgence The death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman from an apparent heroin overdose underscores the drug's resurgence in recent years, fueled by a growing supply from Latin America and a crackdown on prescription narcotics that has pushed addicts to seek old-fashioned alternatives.

Los Angeles Times, 04 Feb 2014 - Actor Hoffman's Death Brings Greater Attention to U.S. Data Showing a Nearly 100% Increase in Five Years. NEW YORK - The death of Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman underscores a surge in heroin use reminiscent of the 1970s and early '80s.

Washington Post, 01 Feb 2014 - The teen had never injected heroin before, authorities say, and on that hot summer night, she could not find a vein. An acquaintance put the needle in Emylee Lonczak's arm for her. As she and others drove back to Northern Virginia from the District, the 16-year-old passed out, court papers say. Someone suggested dumping her in the city, but the other two people in the car said no, the papers say. They finally settled on carrying her into the basement of one of their homes, laying her on a bed.