Heroin death toll in New York is on the rise compared to the number of people who died due to overdosefrom heroin since 2003, according to the latest report from The New York Times.
In 2013, the city health department recorded that the heroin death toll in New York showed 782 drug overdoses-- 420 of which were fatal incidents. These numbers were seen to have doubled over time, in spite of efforts to stop the rise.
The data also traced the spread of the drug in the city and found that incidents were high "among white and higher-income New Yorkers but also spiking with older Hispanic users in the Bronx."
The city health department also reported that Queens recorded 81 deaths in the previous year versus 53 in 2012. This was due to "a rising use among young white men," a data most especially true on Staten Island where 30 out of 32 resident who died due to heroin overdose were white men.
Addiction specialist Dr. Andrew Kolodny noted the shift in user demographics.
He said, "It was almost exclusively central Brooklyn, South Bronx, east Harlem and overlapped with New York City's highest-need neighborhoods. The rest of the city - Staten Island, Queens, most of Manhattan - close to nothing."
But according to the NYT, even before the city health department released this data, the city's heroin crisis has been visible everywhere in the city apart from the rise of heroin death toll in New York.
The city has reportedly turned into a "hub for trafficking along the East Coast" as victims were found in different neighborhoods. This wide-scale drug problem has impelled the police officers to bring naloxone, which undoes the fatal effects of heroin and opioid pill overdoses.
Meanwhile, the chief program officer of a Bronx treatment center have also noted the change in demographic among users.
"We have a much older demographic," said Deborah Witham of th VIP Community Services. However, she also took note that a younger generation of users are also growing in number.
One thing that experts see as a factor in this rise is the fact that heroin is sold for sometimes as little as five dollars a hit.
In spite of rigorous efforts to put a stop to prescription drug abuse, users still found ways to get high.
"People who are used to getting high are not going to stop cold turkey," William Fusco of the Dynamic Youth Community said, adding that "The drugs that you use are the drugs that you find."
