Obama Announces New Strategy To Tackle Increasing Heroin Overdose Deaths

The Obama administration this week announced a new plan to combat increasing heroin-related deaths in the country. The new initiative includes additional funding to High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA).

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), heroin use has more than doubled among young adults between the ages of 18-25 in the past decade. More than 8,000 peopled died from heroin-related overdoses in 2013.

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CDC researchers also found that people most at risk for heroin addiction include whites, males, 18 to 25 years of age, people making less than $20,000 a year, Medicaid recipients, and the uninsured.

“The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program helps federal, state, and local authorities to coordinate drug enforcement operations, support prevention efforts and improve public health and safety,” said Michael Botticelli, director of National Drug Control Policy, in a prepared statement.