Approximately 29 Americans die from heroin overdoses everyday, according to the CDC. Heroin overdose rates increased 26% from 2013-2014. According to the medical journal JAMA Psychiatry, 90% of first time heroin users are 20 year white young men and women living in the suburbs and rural areas. 23% of first time users become addicted to heroin, where most of the addiction leads to a lifelong disease, according to Dr. Charles O'Brien of the University of Pennsylvania. Heroin attacks the brain, and is a powerful narcotic that stimulates the brain’s natural opioid receptors that regulate pain, reward and pleasure and highjacks their pathways.
