Heroin is a highly addictive drug, and its abuse has repercussions that extend far beyond the individual user. The health and social consequences of drug abuse - HIV/AIDS, violence, tuberculosis, fetal effects, crime, and disruptions in family, workplace, and educational environments - have a devastating impact on society and cost billions of dollars each year.
Although heroin abuse has trended downward during the past couple of years, its prevalence is still higher than in the early 1990s. These relatively high rates of abuse, together with the significant heroin abuse we are now seeing among school-age youth, the glamorization of heroin in music and films, changing patterns of drug use, and heroin's increased purity and decreased prices, make it imperative that the public have the latest scientific information on this topic.
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