Heroin overdose explosion among Cali millennials

Small town America is besieged by heroin and drug use.. My own neck of the woods has been struck as well..

The plague is not sporadic but sadly contagious throughout the United States..

The LA DAILY NEWS is reporting about how heroin is exploding in use among California millennials..

From the article:

California’s millennials continue to flood hospital emergency departments because of heroin, a trend that has increased steadily statewide and in Los Angeles and Orange counties over the past five years, according to the latest figures.
The state data released last week show that in the first three months of 2016, 412 adults age 20 to 29 went to emergency departments due to heroin. That’s double the number for the same time period in 2012.
Overall, emergency department visits among heroin users of all ages increased, but the sharpest was among the state’s young adults. About 1,500 emergency department visits by California’s millennials poisoned by heroin were logged in 2015 compared with fewer than 1,000 in 2012.
Emergency responders, those who work in recovery programs, and parents of children addicted to heroin say the figures are unsurprising given the increase in prescription painkiller abuse that likely has led more young people to use heroin.
“One of the unintended consequences of this prescription drug epidemic has been the increase in heroin addiction and overdoses, in part due to the transition from prescription opioids to less expensive heroin street drugs,” according to state health officials. “Heroin deaths have continued to increase steadily by 67 percent since 2006 and account for a growing share of the total opioid-related deaths.”

The same problem that has hit big cities and small town America is not striking the CALI crowd.. the same stories as a bag of heroin only being $5 a bag on the street... deaths.. horrid deaths ... so many people visiting the emergency room for treatment.

More from the article:

Still, some parents and those who work in drug treatment programs continue to see heroin as a major drug issue that isn’t going away.
Jody Waxman saw it firsthand. Her son was 23 when she realized he was addicted to heroin.
“He went to the emergency department a number of times,” said the San Fernando Valley woman. “He once almost died on my living room floor. He had gotten a hold of heroin laced with other drugs. It was very bad. “

I have tried coining a term for this based off of an old film called THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN...
Right now, because of the plague of drug abuse and heroin addiction nationwide, we are filled with small towns that dread sundown.
It's not getting better. Anywhere.