Heroin Use Among Young White Women Shows Dramatic Increase
Aug 15, 2010
Young white women are using heroin more than ever before, a Chicago-based study has concluded. The 10-year study, published this year by the Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy, found heroin-related deaths in Cook County decreased by 16% between 1998 and 2008. However, heroin-related deaths of white women in Cook County increased 40% over that same period, and heroin use is increasing dramatically, the study found. Heroin moved from No. 4 to No. 2 on the list of illegal drugs for which individuals enter treatment in Illinois, behind only alcohol. That increase has been fueled by mostly young, mostly white suburbanites, with the increased heroin use taking place largely in suburban Cook County and its surrounding counties. White heroin users are more likely to be young and suburban—15 to 35 years old; African American users are more likely to be older and urban. Throughout the state, the number of whites entering publicly funded treatment increased from 720 admissions in 1998 to 4,513 in 2008.
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Source
Chicago Sun-Times