From KCRW in Santa Monica and PRI, Public Radio International, this is To the Point.

Heroin is making a comeback.

Hello again, I'm Arunalmi, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

Heroin addiction wasn't just

Philip Seymour Hoffman's problem. It isn't just Hollywood's problem. It's America's problem.

It's migrated from central cities to middle-class suburbs and small towns in New England,

the Midwest, and other places where it's rarely been seen before. Cheaper, more potent supplies

find a ready market of people already addicted

to prescription pain pills that are harder to get than they used to be. Drug overdoses now kill

more Americans than traffic accidents, gun homicides, or suicides. How long has that been

true? Why did it take a celebrity death to focus public attention? What needs to be done?

First, here's the news.

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Program Fund. Hello again, Mormon-A-Lle, back with To the Point. America's last

heroin epidemic was in the 70s and 80s, concentrated in metropolitan centers. Now it's back,

more powerful and potentially deadly than ever, and the users are younger, more affluent,

and living in areas ill-prepared to cope with the problem. We'll hear more about that.

First, this news update.

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