New York Tops Nation In Heroin Abuse, Trafficking, State Panel Told

ALBANY, N.Y. -- The number one trafficking hub for heroin in the United States is New York State, according to testimony by Bridgett Brennan of the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York.

Frank Mojica

03/17/2015 4:00 a.m.

Heroin packets can be purchased as for as little as six to ten dollars, Brennan told the Joint Senate Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Addiction.

According to State Sen. Terrence Murphy (R-Yorkotwn) and co-chair of the Joint Senate Task Force , said New York accounted for 35 percent of the heroin seized in the United States. "New Yorkers often like to think we are at the center of the universe, but no one wants to be at the center of this deadly universe," Murphy said.

In a study by Brandeis University published in the Annual Review of Public Health, the over-prescription of painkillers is a primary driver of addiction to opioids. A one-house budget resolution was passed by the state Senate that reprograms $8.2 million to combat the epidemic and allows school nurses to administer naloxone, which can reverse the effects of opioid overdose.

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