New Jersey law enforcement sees increases in heroin use among teens

Health experts in New Jersey say that many heroin users are suburban teens who have enough disposable income and support to avoid detection, The Gilroy Dispatch reports.

Law enforcement officials told the news source that a troubled teen can easily obtain heroin in the community of 28,000 people. However, for many, they drive to the nearby major cities and purchase the drug to bring it back to the suburbs.

"No area is the center of the universe for drugs," Tom Dombroski of the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, who is in charge of the narcotics unit, told the news source. "Heroin use is happening in all areas of the county."

Local officials noted that there have been three drug-related deaths in the community so far in 2011, which includes two as a result of heroin. Comparatively, one occurred in both 2008 and 2009. Furthermore, law enforcement was called to the local high school five times in the past year on substance abuse calls, with one being for heroin.

The 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health reports that an estimated 180,000 individuals 12 and older used heroin for the first time in 2008.