Heroin use, addiction up sharply among white Americans: Study

Heroin use in the United States has increased five-fold in the past 10 years and dependence on the drug has more than tripled, with the largest increase among whites and men with low incomes and little education, according to a new study.

A major study released Wednesday by researchers at Columbia University found that whites aged 18 to 44 accounted for the biggest rise in heroin addiction.

The findings, published online in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, are troubling because the people most affected have few resources to treat the problem, said Dr. Silvia Martins, the lead author of the study and an associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.

“We are seeing that heroin use has increased in the past 10 years,” Martins said in a phone interview. “It is more prominent among whites with lower incomes and education and young adults.”