“Glee” Star’s Death Highlights Increased Use of Heroin

The death of “Glee” star Cory Monteith from an overdose that involved heroin highlights the growing use of the drug, ABC News reports. The suburbs are being especially hard hit by heroin use, according to law enforcement officials.

Lieutenant Thomas Dombroski of the Bergen County, New Jersey, Prosecutor’s Office, told ABC News that of the 28 heroin overdoses in his county last year, most victims were younger than 22. He said in many cases, young people switch to heroin after becoming addicted to prescription painkillers. He noted heroin, at $4 a bag, is much less expensive than oxycodone, which sells for $30 for one 30-milligram pill.

Dombroski says that like Monteith, many heroin overdose victims have recently come back from rehab. “They get high for the first time since rehab and that high is what kills them,” he noted.

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).