Injection heroin use in the U.S. has nearly doubled in the past 20 years

Consistent with previous research on heroin use, new data find intravenous use in particular has increased. Looking at survey data among more than 800,000 U.S. adults who were asked about drug use between 2002-2018, researchers found that, although still rare, the proportion of those who injected heroin in the year prior to being surveyed almost doubled, from 0.09% in 2002 to 0.17% in 2018. The prevalence of those with heroin use disorder similarly increased during the 17-year study period, while heroin use increased until 2016 and then leveled off, a trend that could be due to people replacing heroin with illegal fentanyl-like substances, the authors suggest. They also write that the findings likely underestimate heroin injection because the survey didn’t include incarcerated individuals or homeless people not living in shelters — two groups with historically higher rates of heroin use.