WASHINGTON D.C. – Deaths from heroin overdose are on the rise at an alarming rate, said the nation’s chief prosecutor.
Between 2006 and 2010, deaths as a result of heroin overdose increased by 45 percent, Attorney General Eric Holder said today.
Holder called deaths from the use of heroin and prescription pain-killers an “urgent public health crisis” that is impacting the lives of Americans throughout the nation.
Holder sounded the alarm in his weekly video message posted today on the Justice Department’s website.
Citing scientific studies, Holder said the cycle of heroin abuse commonly begins with prescription opiate abuse.
“When confronting the problem of substance abuse, it makes sense to focus attention on the most dangerous types of drugs. And right now, few substances are more lethal than prescription opiates and heroin,” Holder said.
Holder urged first 911 emergency responders to carry the drug known as naloxone.
When administered quickly and effectively, Holder said naloxone immediately restores breathing to a victim in the throes of a heroin or opioid overdose.
Seventeen states and Washington D.C. have amended their laws to increase access to naloxone, resulting in over 10,000 overdose reversals since 2001, according to Holder.
“On the enforcement side, we’re doing more than ever to keep illicit drugs off the streets – and to bring violent traffickers to justice. With DEA as our lead agency, we have adopted a strategy to attack all levels of the supply chain to prevent pharmaceutical controlled substances from getting into the hands of non-medical users,” said Holder.
Since 2011, Holder said the DEA has opened more than 4,500 heroin-related investigations.
Holder said DEA is on track to open many more, resulting in an increase in heroin seized along the southwest border by more than 320 percent from 2008 to 2013.