--- title: Heroin Use is Skyrocketing, DEA Says description: Law enforcement seizures of heroin have nearly doubled in the past five years canonical: https://time.com/4100370/heroin-skyrocketing-dea/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-04T20:48:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:21:02.272Z article:section: Health og:title: Heroin Use is Skyrocketing, DEA Says og:description: Law enforcement seizures of heroin have nearly doubled in the past five years og:url: https://time.com/4100370/heroin-skyrocketing-dea/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Heroin Use is Skyrocketing, DEA Says twitter:description: Law enforcement seizures of heroin have nearly doubled in the past five years twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Heroin Use is Skyrocketing, DEA Says by [NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Nov 4, 2015 8:48 PM UTC by [NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Nov 4, 2015 8:48 PM UTC The growth in abuse of heroin is now considered the number one drug threat by the nation’s police, overtaking methamphetamine, according to a new survey by the Drug Enforcement Administration. “Heroin availability is up across the country, as are abuses, overdoses, and overdose deaths,” says the 2015 National Drug Threat Assessment Summary, released Wednesday. Law enforcement seizures of heroin have nearly doubled in the past five years, and the number of heroin users is up 51%, according to the latest findings from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Abuse of prescription drugs, especially painkillers, remains high — totaling more… [Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/dea-finds-heroin-use-skyrocketing-n457336?cid=par-time%5F20151104) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4100370/heroin-skyrocketing-dea/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4100370/heroin-skyrocketing-dea/"},"headline":"Heroin Use is Skyrocketing, DEA Says","datePublished":"2015-11-04T20:48:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:21:02.272Z","description":"Law enforcement seizures of heroin have nearly doubled in the past five years","url":"https://time.com/4100370/heroin-skyrocketing-dea/","keywords":["Public Health"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/public-health/","name":"Public Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4100370/heroin-skyrocketing-dea/","name":"Heroin Use is Skyrocketing, DEA Says"}}]}] ```