There has been a national hysteria about a heroin epidemic in the United States. The widespread fear has grown in light of highly publicized and devastating events like the overdose death of Philip Seymour Hoffman in February. To be fair, there is some reason to be scared. Heroin is very lethal. According to Addiction, the ratio between a dose that gets a person high and a dose that kills them is only 6 to 1—a very narrow margin compared to other drugs. However, as Reason.com points out, despite these widespread fears of an escalating heroin problem, the data does not bear that there is actually a heroin problem. Rather, it suggests only that we are extremely scared of a heroin epidemic, and this fear is stoked by media coverage.

Heroin Deaths on the Rise… but Slightly

The Centers for Disease Control tells us that deaths from heroin have risen in the last two years. From 2010 to 2012, deaths from heroin overdose increased from 1 per 100,000 to 2.1 per 100,000. The CDC looked at data from 28 states to come to this conclusion. These numbers are troubling, and will only add to the national fear of heroin. Despite these figures, heroin use and heroin overdose remains relatively rare. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health figured that there were 289,000 monthly heroin users in 2013—about one tenth of one percent of all U.S. citizens. To be fair, it is difficult to know how many regular users of heroin there are in the United States. Traditional methods to gather information, such as surveys, do not effectively target users.

Prescription Drugs Result in Many More Deaths

To put these numbers in the proper context, it helps to consider prescription opiate pain relievers. These kill far more each year. According to this Washington Post article, 4,102 people unintentionally overdosed on heroin while 17,241 people overdosed on prescription drugs in 2011. These drugs include codeine, hydrocodone, and oxycodone, which are all often prescribed for pain.

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