CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden says the nation’s alarming heroin epidemic – which spans nearly all demographic groups and is causing a dramatic rise in overdose deaths, is largely due to two factors.
“It's really a one-two punch. First is an increasing number of people primed for heroin addiction because they're addicted to or exposed to prescription opioid painkillers; and second is an increase in the supply and accessibility and decrease in the cost of heroin.”