Parents, school officials, and health care workers in Ohio have been shocked by revelations that abuse of prescription drugs and heroin is slowly replacing alcohol and marijuana abuse among the youth of the US state. The trend has been rising towards more lethal drugs as prescription pill abuse has progressed into synthetic narcotics like OxyContin, and then to more underground and powerful stuff such as heroin which is said to be ‘10 times more powerful than Oxy.’

The Columbus area is noted for the prevalence of heroin which, according to federal drug agents, comes from Mexico.

“We are aware Columbus is high on the ladder of places where heroin is available. I am shocked Columbus is a center for this,” said a school drug counselor. In one of Ohio’s rural counties, ‘a group of local teenagers and young men had been dealing heroin. They had been bringing the drug from Dayton, about 70 miles west from here.’

Heroin street peddlers in Ohio are found to be local kids who are educated and not dropouts. Most are also not drug users. These fresh-faced kids source the drug from drug traffickers that have accessed their way into the region, making the drug widely available. In Ohio, the street value of heroin is only a bit more expensive than a six-pack of beer.

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Via The New York Times