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The Changing Face of Heroin: Teenagers at Increased Risk

While "heroin chic" is cultivated on high-fashion runways and in glossy magazines, the hard-hitting reality of this drug is far from glamorous. The face of heroin is changing in the 1990’s: The faces are younger.

Recent years have witnessed an upward trend in heroin use across the Nation. In 1995, 141,000 people tried heroin for the first time. Many of them were teenagers: 25 percent were 12 to 17 years old. In addition, in 1995 an estimated 428,000 people took heroin at least once. Standard methods of measuring the prevalence of heroin use likely underestimate the extent of the problem.

The major shift in heroin use appears to be the increase in youth using the drug. Although not as prevalent as marijuana and alcohol, heroin experienced an upward trend for eighth, tenth, and twelfth graders from 1991 to 1996. In fact, in 1994, 57 percent of those admitted to hospital emergency rooms for heroin-related illnesses were under age 18. Prevalence among college students remained steady.

Investigators believe that the increase in young heroin users reflects general trends in how people are taking the drug. Younger users and new users alike tend to smoke or snort heroin, rather than inject it as long-time users generally have. The increased purity of heroin over the past decade and the fear of AIDS have contributed to this gradual movement away from injecting heroin.

Several other trends characterize heroin use today. Combined survey data from 1994 and 1995 suggest that the majority of users were white males over 35 years of age. Almost half of reported heroin users live in larger metropolitan areas. Nearly a third did not graduate from high school. Surveys of emergency room admissions and heroin-related deaths indicate that heroin is often used in combination with other drugs, particularly cocaine and alcohol.

Heroin is one of the top three frequently reported drugs by medical examiners in drug abuse deaths. These patterns of heroin use, particularly its increasing popularity among youth, pose new challenges for the prevention community.

Source: Adapted from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Drug Abuse Warning Network Annual Medical Examiner Data 1995, DHHS Pub. No. (SMA)97-3126 Rockville, MD: DHHS, 1997.

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