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Heroin Gaining Popularity, Especially Among Teenagers

According to studies done by the U.S. federal government heroin production in the world has more than doubled since the 1980's. This has resulted in much lower street prices for very pure heroin, as well as a much wider availablity.

Heroin abuse, originally only noticeably problematic and wide spread in densely populated urban areas, has now spread to much smaller cities, suburbs, and rural areas. This recent explosion in wide spread availability has caused an increase in the popularity of smoking or snorting the drug, and without the stigma that goes along with intravaneous use, more and more people are experimenting with heroin.

Research done by the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse in 1999 has reported that almost 50 percent of new heroin users are under the age of 25, and half of these are under the age of 18. This is an insidious trend, most likely caused by the increase in popularity of smoking or snorting heroin, this usage being deemed "safe" by most users.

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