New data from the Kentucky Health Issues Poll suggests the state’s heroin epidemic may be worsening. Eleven percent of those asked know someone who’s had problems with the drug, up two percent from 2013.
The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky conducted the poll. CEO Susan Zepedasays the rate’s much higher in certain parts of the state.
“We see that in northern Kentucky, twenty six percent of the folks who responded said that their family members or friends were experiencing problems with heroin," Zepeda said.
The numbers in our region are slightly better; just seven percent of western Kentuckians asked say they know someone having heroin problems.
The poll also found prescription pain reliever abuse on the decline. About one in four participants said they know someone that used, down from nearly one in three in 2011.
Kentucky ranks fifth nationwide for drug overdose deaths.
