Twin Cities residents love heroin, prescription painkillers too much

Photo by Mr. Theklan

Twin Cities emergency rooms saw a big spike in abuse of heroin and prescription narcotic drugs last year. Some of us just can't get enough of it. So much so that we end up in the E.R. apparently.

A report from the Minnesota Department of Human Services found that 1,187 patients attempted to get treatment for prescription narcotic painkillers in the Twin Cities in 2008. That's a record and a three-fold increase since 2002. Local emergency rooms saw a 67-percent increase in emergency room visits for abuse.

Heroin-related E.R. visits also increased 65 percent.

The good news: Methamphetamine use appears to be on the decline after several years of increases this decade. We've still got the track marks unfortunately.