There has been a dramatic shift in the demographics of heroin use in the U.S. with new users more likely to be white suburban men and women in their 20s who move to heroin from more expensive prescription opiates, according to a new study, NBC News reported. The analysis, which was published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, looked at 2,800 heroin addicts entering substance abuse treatment centers across the U.S. In the 1960s, the majority of new users were minority teens from urban areas whose first opiate was heroin. Today new users tend to be white suburbanites in their early 20s whose first opiate was a prescription painkiller.
