Pills, heroin becoming gateway drugs

ALBANY, N.Y., Nov. 24 (UPI) -- There has been a 75 percent increase in heroin use among patients seeking treatment since 2007, officials of an Albany, N.Y., addiction recovery center said.

Robert Doherty, executive director of St. Peter's Addiction Recovery Center, said the increase is most dramatic in patients under age 30 from the suburbs -- although a 20 percent increase has been seen in patients older than age 46. Many are suburban, middle-class professionals, Doherty told WNYT-TV, Albany, N.Y.

St. Peter's Addiction Recovery Center includes an inpatient detox at St. Peter's Hospital, an inpatient rehabilitation center in Guilderland, N.Y., and six outpatient clinics.

"We want schools, healthcare providers, medical and counseling professionals, as well as the general public, to be aware of this dramatic and alarming increase in the use of heroin and related drugs in the capital district," Doherty says in a statement. "This is the first time we have ever issued such an alert."

A typical client is "James," a 22-year-old man who first experimented with painkillers, such as hydrocodone, while in high school and became addicted to 10-to-15 pills a day. As the cost of his addiction grew, he sold drugs, but later turned to a cheaper alternative -- heroin, Doherty says.

"Family and friends became concerned that something was wrong but no one suspected that he had become a heroin addict," Doherty says.