Heroin touches every segment of American society': Philip Seymour Hoffman's overdose exposes 100 per cent RISE in heroin 'epidemic' in U.S. over five years

• Heroin use up 100 percent in United States since 2007
• More than 660,000 Americans used heroin in 2012
• Resurgence attributed to crackdown on illegal 'pill mills' producing prescription drugs like OxyContin, which gives same high as heroin
• Pill addicts have turned to heroin because its cheaper and available
• Popular in rural and suburban areas, not just inner city
• Users buying single hits for as little as $8
• Drug cartels pushing ever-larger amounts across the Southwestern border

Heroin use has surged a whopping 100 per cent across the US in the last five years, in what health officials have called a 'growing epidemic' that 'touches every segment of society'.

The death of Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has exposed a dangerous resurgence of the street narcotic that is reminiscent of the 1970s and early 80s, according to The LA Times.

More than 660,000 Americans used heroin in 2012, health officials say — nearly double the number from five years earlier — and users tend to be more affluent than before, living in the suburbs and rural areas rather than just the inner city.

The rise has been caused by the decreased availability of prescription pills like OxyContin - a powerful opioid that produces the same high as heroin - coupled with the large amounts of the drug being smuggled into the country from Mexico and Colombia.

Scroll down for video

Heroin is being smuggled into America from Mexico and Colombia in huge quantities and is as strong as ever in terms of purity. Here 33 pounds (13kg) of heroin worth $8 million is seized by New York drug enforcement officers during a bust in the Bronx

Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead on Sunday in New York from an apparent heroin overdose. He was 46. His death has sparked investigations into heroin use in the United States and its recent rise in popularity

Instigators reportedly found now fewer than there were no fewer than 49 full glassines - the paper envelopes used to store heroin - as well as 20 used needles inside Hoffman's apartment. One hit of heroin can cost as little as $8 to $10 on the street, experts say

Drug cartels are pushing ever-larger amounts across the Southwestern border, sometimes hidden in fake coconuts, bananas and lollipops, officials said.

It is also as strong and as pure as ever.

Federal and local governments have recently been cracking down on 'pill-mills', which are illegal sources of OxyContin and other prescription opiates, The Washington Times reported.

Federal regulations have also restricted opioid drug manufacturers from producing crushable pills so they can’t be abused and/or used to create other drugs.

Heroin is also much cheaper than OxyContin, which can cost $100 per pill - or one hit - in the underground market.

 

More...

• Cause of death? 57 bags of heroin - and one broken heart: A haunting insight into the last tortured days of Philip Seymour Hoffman
• 'If I don't stop I know I'm going to die': How tragic Philip Seymour Hoffman predicted his fate weeks before fatal heroin overdose as NYPD reveal he withdrew $1200 in 6 transactions at the same ATM on the night before he died
• Maradona stays at home for announcement of Argentina job

Comparatively, heroin sells for between $45 and $60 for a multiple-dose supply, which usually provides about six hits.

Users are also able to find single hits for as little as $8 to $10.

'Heroin is a growing epidemic,' Rusty Payne, a spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, told the LA Times.

'People need to wake up and see what’s going on. 

'People who would never be associated with a needle are now injecting heroin. 

'You have urban and rural users, celebrities like Hoffman and the common man. 

'Heroin touches every segment of society.'

Drug officials say the recent rise in heroin use across the US over the last few years comes as a result of prescription drug abuse, with pill addicts getting the same high from heroin at a much cheaper price

Bricks of heroin are found hidden in the oven of an apartment in the Bronx during a multimillion dollar drug bust by the DEA

Overdoses and emergency room visits have skyrocketed across the country, officials say, and more are dying from the drug, the purity of which can be hard to judge.

Dr. Karen Simone, a clinical toxicologist at the Northern New England Poison Center, said the number of heroin-related calls that the organization receives has doubled from 2007 to 2012.

From 2007 to 2012, the number of Americans using heroin nearly doubled, from 373,000 to 669,000, according to the federal government’s most recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health, released last fall.

Los Angeles traditionally was the final destination for Mexico's trade, but in recent years that distribution has spread across the United States, said Sarah Pullen, a special agent in the DEA's Los Angeles office.

'Increasingly, heroin addicts are former prescription drug abusers,' Pullen told the Washington Times. 

'They become hooked on painkillers and move over to heroin because it is available for far cheaper.'

Recent bust: The DEA released photos on February 4 of a major heroin seizure they made from the ship Seaboard Pride at Port of Miami

Some 34 packages of heroin were found concealed inside four couches onboard the Seaboard Pride at Port of Miami in Florida

This week, the DEA released images of a major heroin bust that took place onboard the ship Seaboard Pride at the Port of Miami in Florida in January 2012.

Some 34 packets of the drug, worth millions of dollars, were found concealed inside numerous couches on the boat.

In 2010 — the latest year such data were available — heroin overdoses killed more than 3,000 people across the U.S., a 45% increase since 2006, according to the DEA.

The drug was particularly accessible in the Northeast, where officials say New York City serves as the transit point for heroin coming via road from the Southwest, via air from overseas and via ship from South America.

Hoffman's death at age 46 comes a week after Pennsylvania officials announced that a batch of heroin spiked with fentanyl had killed at least 22 people in January.

Spiked heroin also has killed at least 37 people in Maryland since September, chief medical examiner Dr. David Fowler said.

Although initial autopsy results on Hoffman are pending, the actor was found in his Manhattan apartment with a needle in his arm and was surrounded by a reported 70 bags of heroin.

Some packets were stamped Ace of Spades.

Also taken too soon: Glee actor Cory Monteith was found dead from an overdose in July, with heroin and methadone part of a cocktail of drugs and alcohol found in his system. He is seen here with on and off-screen love Lea Michele at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in January 2013

Glee star Cory Monteith was also killed by a drug overdose last year, dying in a British Columbia hotel room in July from a lethal combination of heroin, alcohol, morphine and codeine.

Heroin was a drug of choice for celebrities and inner-city addicts alike in the 1970s, but its popularity declined in the 1980s as the HIV/AIDS crisis brought worries of infection-carrying needles. 

Crack cocaine supplanted heroin as a cheap, powerful option for poorer users.

Now, experts say, heroin is officially back.

'This last year, we've seen a big uptick in heroin use,' Theodore J. Cicero, a professor of neuropharmacology at Washington University in St. Louis, told the LA Times.

'It's become rapidly very popular.'

Read more:

• Philip Seymour Hoffman's death calls attention to rise in heroin use
• Hoffman¿s death highlights U.S. spike in heroin us