NCJ Number
218238
Date Published
April 2007
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This report presents trends in heroin inhalation and injection hospital admissions between 1995 and 2005.
Abstract
In 2005, an estimated 379,000 Americans aged 12 and older used heroin, including 108,000 who used heroin for the first time. Results of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) indicated a general trend toward inhalation of heroin versus injection. Approximately one-third of heroin users inhaled the drug, a proportion that has remained relatively stable since 2001. In 2005, the proportion of primary heroin admissions who injected the drug declined to 63 percent from 69 percent in 1995. Between 1995 and 2005, there was an increase in White primary heroin admissions, for both heroin inhalation and injection, while the proportion of Black heroin admissions decreased over the same period. The proportion of primary heroin admissions that received ambulatory treatment decreased between 1995 and 2005, while the proportion of heroin admissions admitted to residential treatment increased. The proportion of heroin injection admissions planning medication-assisted opioid therapy as one component of substance abuse treatment declined between 1995 and 2005, while the proportion planning therapy remained stable among inhalation admissions. Figures