Heroin

Top headlines of the week from Friday, March 21- Thursday, March 27, 2014.

Top headlines of the week from Friday, March 14- Thursday, March 20, 2014.

Top headlines of the week from Friday, March 7- Thursday, March 13, 2014.

Some addiction experts say the U.S. government’s fight against prescription drug abuse may have inadvertently contributed to the rise in heroin use, according to The Washington Post.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday called the increase in heroin overdoses “an urgent and growing public health crisis,” The Washington Post reports.

A new survey of affluent women treated for alcohol and drug addiction finds prescription medication and heroin are their leading drugs of choice.

Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman died from taking a combination of drugs, including heroin and cocaine, according to the New York City Medical Examiner. Experts say tens of thousands of overdose deaths annually in the United States are due to a similar mix of drugs.

Top headlines of the week from Friday, February 14- Thursday, February 20, 2014.

As heroin use escalates across the U.S., addicts and their loved ones who are seeking treatment face a lack of services and strict constraints placed by insurance companies, according to health care and addiction professionals.

Top headlines of the week from Friday, February 7- Thursday, February 13, 2014.

Philip Seymour Hoffman’s tragic death has focused attention on heroin addiction. Unfortunately, heroin addiction is on the rise from teens to older adults, says Dr. Barbara Krantz of the Hanley Center.

Government officials Tuesday urged first responders to increase their use of the drug naloxone to reverse overdoses of heroin and prescription opioids.

A growing number of people switch back and forth between prescription painkillers and heroin, experts tell The New York Times. They call prescription opiates “heroin lite.”

The heroin overdose antidote naloxone is becoming more widely available nationwide, the Los Angeles Times reports. California greatly expanded availability of the treatment as of January 1.

Heroin laced with the synthetic opiate fentanyl is suspected in at least 50 recent fatal overdoses in three states, according to law enforcement officials. In Pennsylvania, the drug combination is suspected in at least 17 deaths. Officials in Maryland and Michigan are also investigating deaths linked to the drug mix.

Top headlines of the week from Friday, January 31- Thursday, February 6, 2014.

The addiction treatment medication buprenorphine was found in actor Philip Seymour Hoffman’s apartment, along with 50 bags of heroin and a variety of prescription drugs, according to New York City detectives.

Cheap heroin is easy to find in New York City, according to law enforcement officials who spoke after actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead with dozens of packages of heroin in his apartment.

Top headlines of the week from Friday, January 24- Thursday, January 30, 2014.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has joined an investigation into the source of a batch of heroin that killed 22 people in western Pennsylvania, The Wall Street Journal reports. The heroin involved in some of the deaths contained the synthetic opiate fentanyl, often used during surgery.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday unanimously ruled a heroin dealer cannot be held liable for a client’s death and given a longer sentence if heroin only contributed to the death, and was not necessarily the only cause.

Top headlines of the week from Friday, January 17- Thursday, January 23, 2014.

Top headlines of the week from Friday, January 10- Thursday, January 16, 2014.

Deaths from heroin and prescription drugs more than doubled last year at the Jersey Shore, a locale well known as a vacation destination. Three people in Ocean County, New Jersey have already died in 2014 from drug overdoses, according to NBC News.

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin on Wednesday said the state is suffering from a “full-blown heroin crisis,” The New York Times reports. In his State of the State Message, Governor Shumlin said he wants officials to respond to addiction as a chronic disease.