Overdoses stemming from heroin and painkiller abuse are now the leading cause of fatal injuries in the United States, surpassing even firearms and motor vehicle accidents, a Drug Enforcement Administration assessment reveals. “Overdose deaths, particularly from prescription drugs and heroin, have reached epidemic levels”.
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Finally, Rosenberg notes, “Domestically, affiliated and violent gangs are increasingly a threat to the safety and security of our communities”.
Hoping to crackdown on the rise of heroin and opioid abuse, the DEA has launched a first-of-its-kind program to target drug-related crime. The NDTA also found that heroin availability has increased nationwide, as has the numbers of abusers, overdoses, and overdose deaths; prescription drug death have outnumbered those of cocaine and heroin combined since 2002; and fentanyl has caused more than 700 deaths between late 2013 and early 2015. Fentanyl is sometimes added to heroin batches, or sold by itself as heroin, unknown to the user.
· Synthetic designer drugs from China continue to wreak havoc in the United States, particular synthetic cannabinoids, cathinones, and phenethylamines. Last year, more than 300 people died from overdoses in Allegheny County, according to Neil A. Capretto, an addiction psychiatrist and medical director of Gateway Rehabilitation Center.
There always has been a lot of debate over legalization of marijuana in the United States though its medicinal properties have been proven many times.
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The assessment factors in information from a host of data sources such as drug arrests, drug purity, laboratory analyses, information on the involvement of organized criminal groups, and survey data provided to the DEA by 1,105 state and local law enforcement agencies across the country.
