Heroin equates to 5.4 deaths per 100,000 people, this figure pales in comparison to the national death toll due to tobacco addiction
Heroin is a powerfully addictive drug. Also known as smack, h, ska, or junk, this white or brown powdery or black, sticky substance is processed from morphine. Like all opiates, it is a depressant that inhibits the central nervous system. Heroin is administered in three ways: smoking, snorting, or shooting (injecting). Since it enters the brain quite quickly, heroin is very addictive; each time a user administers heroin, more is needed to get the same high.
Statistics from 1993-1995 illustrate that New Mexico leads the nation in per capita heroin-related deaths. The county of Rio Arriba has the greatest problem with this addiction. The amount of heroin has increased and the purity of the heroin has increased. The rate of overdoses in Rio Arriba county is more than three times the national average.