Prescription drug addiction leads to heroin addiction, not the other way around.
An estimated 80% of addicts trying heroin for the first time previously used prescription pain pills. This is due to a crackdown on prescription narcotics (synthetic opiates, or opioids), which has pushed addicts to seek alternatives (opiates, especially heroin); the demand for opiates has been happily met by suppliers who make the same high available for about one-sixth the price (one oxycodone pill good for one high sells on New York streets for about $30; for about the same price, addicts can get six glassine bags of heroin, which supplies six highs). When supply is constricted for one drug, the demand and supply increases for another. When the war on cocaine was at its height, methamphetamine supply and use exploded. Now, opioids are restricted and opiates take their place; in the meantime, the percentage of the population addicted to such drugs remains the same. It’s time to end the wars and instead stop the enabling. Rolling back HIPPA, which allows addicts privacy in medical affairs that serves only to kill them (see below), would be a start.