Heroin in no longer just a drug that can only be found in the city streets of places like New York or Los Angeles. For years now, this powerful substance has been on the fast-track to making a great and wicked resurgence within the drug community; finding its way into the veins of small town America, including those right here in Evansville, Indiana.

Evansville Police Chief Billy Bolin says that while heroin has not yet developed into a full-blown epidemic here in the Evansville area, there is no doubt that the police force is starting to see this highly addictive drug popping up more frequently. That’s because many prescription painkiller addicts are struggling to get their hands on acceptable quantities of favorite street drugs, like Lortab and OxyContin, and simply turn to a much darker market as a means for feeding the addicted beast.

Incidentally, the problem with heroin is not just something that can be found lurching around government project housing or inside the urban circus. In all actuality, heroin is becoming very popular among white-collar America, as drug treatment centers are reportedly seeing an increase in detox patients ranging from lawyers, nurses, police officers and even ministers.

What is happening is that popular prescription painkillers are currently being sold at a rate of about $1 per milligram, making a one-dose 80 milligram pill cost somewhere around $80. Heroin is much cheaper than that, as a balloon containing one-dose can be obtained for as little as $9. To put this into perspective -- a hardcore heroin addict may use 10 doses per day, which could cost him approximately $90, but the drug can be rationed out throughout the course of the day. So, it stands to reason that many drug users are simply opting to switch from pills to heroin based on straight economics alone.

And while the dark images of regular people, with families and high-paying professional careers, shooting and snorting heroin before getting their kids off to school may paint a rather morose portrait, the reality is, it is happening. What is frightening is that even though heroin is not as high profile as the new cash crop of Indiana – methamphetamines - it is even more savagely addictive, and has a well documented history of destroying lives.

To learn more about the dangers of Heroin click here.

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