Keweenaw Report Your Source for Local News and Sports
Deaths from drug overdose are on the rise in Michigan, according to data from the state Department of Health and Human Services.
The numbers show there were 1,533 drug overdose deaths in Michigan in 2013, up 18 percent from 2012. 255 of those deaths were a result of heroin use, more than five times the number of heroin deaths in 2002.
Steve Cottrell, a mental heath therapist at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, says, in his experience, many heroin users begin with opioid pain relievers like Vicodin or Norco then escalate to heroin use.
He says once someone begins injecting heroin, chances of unintentional overdose goes way up.
Cottrell says some common signs of drug abuse are social withdraw and reduced performance at work or school.
