   Syndicated by  Get the Books      Featured Goodies  Why Is
Heroin Abuse Rising While Other Drug Abuse Is Falling?  Peter
Shumlin, Democratic governor of Vermont, moved heroin addiction
to the front burner of national news by devoting his entire
State of the State address to his state’s dramatic increase in
heroin abuse. Shumlin described the situation as an “epidemic,”
with heroin abuse increasing 770 percent in Vermont since 2000.
Vermont is a microcosm of the nation. Across the U.S., heroin
abuse among first-time users has increased by nearly 60 percent
in the last decade, from about 90,000 to 156,000 new users a
year, according to the U.S. Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).  At the same
time, non-medical prescription opiate abuse has slowly
decreased.  According to the SAMHSA 2012 National Survey on Drug
Use and Health, the number of new non-medical users of pain
killers in 2012 was 1.9 million; in 2002 it was 2.2 million. [It
bears repeating that these stats are for ab