U.S. Heroin Deaths Triple in 3 Years

The number of Americans dying from a heroin overdose nearly tripled over a recent three-year period — with most of the heroin in the U.S. smuggled across the porous Mexican border.

The number of deaths rose from 3,036 in 2010 to 8,257 in 2013, the last year for which reliable data is available, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The death rate from heroin overdose during that period soared from 1.0 per 100,000 population to 2.7 per 100,000 in 2013.

And from 2000 through 2013, the rate for drug-poisoning deaths involving heroin nearly quadrupled, up from 0.7 deaths per 100,000 to 2.7.

"Drug poisoning (overdose) is the number one cause of injury-related death in the United States, with 43,982 deaths occurring in 2013," the CDC reported. "While much attention has been given to deaths involving opioid analgesics [including hydrocodone and oxycodone] there has been a steady increase in the number of drug-poisoning deaths involving heroin."

Overdose deaths among women have risen along with the overall rise, increasing sixfold from 279 women in 2000 to 1,732 in 2013.

In 2000, non-Hispanic blacks ages 45 to 64 had the highest rate for drug-poisoning deaths involving heroin, 2.0 per 100,000. But in 2013, the highest rate was among non-Hispanic whites ages 18 to 44, 7.0 per 100,000, up from about 1.1 in 2000.

There has also been a shift in the regions where heroin deaths are most prevalent. In 2000 and again in 2007, the highest death rates were in the Northeast and West, but in 2013 the highest rate was in the Midwest, 4.3 deaths per 100,000 population.

According to a report from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, "Foreign sources of opium are responsible for the entire supply of heroin consumed in the U.S.," and the "primary supplier" of heroin is Mexico.

The report disclosed that as recently as 2010, Afghanistan accounted for nearly 80 percent of the world's opium, which is processed into heroin, but in Latin America and particularly in Mexico, opium poppy production has greatly increased.

The report also notes: "The Armed Forces of Mexico will continue to be challenged by the continued violence among drug cartels which pulls resources away from eradicating poppy."

According to the U.S. State Department, drug cartels in Mexico control about 70 percent of the foreign narcotics entering the United States.