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How Serious a Problem Is Heroin Addiction?
“
“
How Serious
a Problem Is
Heroin Addiction?
There’s more heroin being used than at any time in our
history. I mean, historically, heroin used to be thought
of as mainly an inner city drug. That has dramatically
changed, particularly over the last 10 years.
”
—Neil Capretto, medical director at the Gateway Rehabilitation Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Among young adults and teens, heroin use is out of
control. And nobody is doing anything about it.
”
—Manny Alvarez, a physician who serves as senior managing editor for health news for Fox News.
O
n April 16, 2014, a national summit on illegal drugs was held in
Washington, DC, and a primary focus of the discussion was Amer-
ica’s heroin problem. Police chiefs and police commissioners from
throughout the United States took part in the event, as did top federal
law enforcement officials including US attorney general Eric Holder, FBI
director James B. Comey, and DEA administrator Michele M. Leonhart.
Comey stressed how heroin abuse is affecting the entire country. “In my
seven months on the job as director,” he said, “I’ve been to 25 of my field
offices, and in every single place I’ve visited, whether it’s Mississippi,
California, or Ohio, I’ve heard about heroin.”
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Holder also spoke of America’s widespread heroin abuse, calling it a
