Report: Heroin abuse increasing in women, middle-class

ATLANTA -- Heroin use is skyrocketing among women and the middle-class as diminished availability of prescription painkillers pushes people to the illicit drug, the Centers for Disease Control reports in a study released Tuesday.

The number of heroin users has increased by 150 percent since 2007, with 75 percent of new users coming to the drug after abusing prescription pain medications. The rate of heroin use among women has increased 60 percent, and grew by 50 percent among those with an annual household income of at least $50,000.

The switch from pain medication to heroin is largely and often due to cost. For a heavy user, USA Today reports, a day's supply of the prescription pain medication OxyContin can cost up to $160. A day's worth of heroin costs just about $40.

The CDC report highlights the fact that in some place in the U.S., heroin overdoses cause more deaths than homicides and traffic accidents combined.

"Given the findings of the CDC's recent report," the report wrote. "It is more important now more than ever that we take action against the current heroin epidemic."

Despite the rise in women and middle-class individuals getting into the drug, the majority of new users remain young white men with low incomes, USA Today reports. However, it is the rise in other users that highlights the growing reach of the epidemic.

"If we don't act now, we could lose an entire generation of people -- to addiction, to the streets, to jail or to death," Sen Edward Markey, D-Mass., told USA Today.