New Jersey officials report a rise in heroin addiction, drug-related crime and deaths among young people in suburbs. Many became addicted to prescription painkillers, and switched to heroin because it is cheaper, potent and widely available, according to The Record of Woodland Park.

The growth of heroin use among young people in the suburbs is being seen nationwide. According to the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the number of people who were past-year heroin users in 2011 (620,000) was higher than the number in 2007 (373,000).

New Jersey is a center of heroin use in part because of its ports and highways, which are conduits for South American heroin, the article notes. Heroin found on New Jersey streets today is at least five times more pure than it was several decades ago, law enforcement officials say. The increased potency leads to quicker addiction, they add.

“Heroin is much more commonplace than it’s been in years,” Ellen Elias, Director of the Center for Alcohol and Drug Resources in Hackensack, told the newspaper. “We see it all around. It seems like the population in which heroin is most prevalent is that 18- to 25-year-old population.”

Police in Bergen County, in northern New Jersey, report increases in shoplifting, home invasions, burglaries and armed robberies, by people addicted to heroin who are seeking money to buy drugs.

Last week, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed into law a measure that encourages people to report drug overdoses. The law allows people to call 911 to report a drug overdose, without the fear of getting arrested for drug possession themselves.