Report: heroin use still a problem in Twin Cities

by Conrad Wilson, Minnesota Public Radio

January 28, 2013

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COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. A new report on drug trends in the Twin Cities shows heroin use remains a growing problem, while the abuse of opiate-based pain killers, like methadone and OxyContin, may be slowing.

During the first half of 2012, treatment centers saw a slight drop in the number of people admitted for opiate abuse. Doctors and drug abuse experts say that's an encouraging sign, but they say it's too early to know if it a trend that will continue.

More than 21 percent of people in Hennepin, Ramsey, Anoka, Dakota, Washington counties entering treatment programs early last year were battling an addiction with either heroin or opiate-based prescription pain killers.

Graph: Drug trends in Minnesota

"Heroin and other opiates are second only to the number of people coming into treatment for alcohol," said Carol Falkowski, the principal at Drug Abuse Dialogue, a drug abuse education company. "That is a relatively new phenomena in the Twin Cities and something that we should all be concerned about."

Falkowski authored the twice annual-report for the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

"While heroin continues to increase, perhaps prescription opiates are slowing down a bit," Falkowski said. "Those two lines that have been going up in tandem, separated when you look at the first six months of 2012 and it could be the beginning of a turning of the tide with prescription opiates."

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Report: heroin use still a problem in Twin Cities