The number of heroin users in the U.S. increased by 135 percent from 2002 through 2016, according to a federal report published by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Sept. 7.
For the report, SAMHSA researchers analyzed the results of the 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health and compared the numbers to past surveys. SAMHSA conducts the survey annually, gathering responses from about 70,000 randomly selected individuals nationwide.
The researchers found the rise in heroin users coincided with an increase in heroin-related deaths. The number of heroin related overdose deaths surged from 2,089 in 2002 to 13,219 in 2016, marking a 533 percent rise.
"We saw more than 50,000 drug overdose deaths, most of them due to opioids, in 2015 — roughly equivalent to the number of Americans lost in the Vietnam War," said HHS Secretary Tom Price, MD, in response to the SAMHSA report. "Think about that: We are losing a Vietnam War to drug overdose every year. Preliminary data from the CDC for 2016 suggests that this number rose substantially again last year, likely topping 60,000 – and is on track to continue that heartbreaking trend in 2017."
The report did contain a silver lining, as the estimated 11.8 million people who misused an opioid in 2016 did not represent a significant increase from the previous few years.
To read the full report, click here.
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