Philip Seymour Hoffman death comes amid rise in heroin abuse, trafficking

By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The apparent heroin overdose death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman comes amid a sharp rise in trafficking of the illegal narcotic across the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years and growing abuse of the drug nationwide, federal officials said on Monday. The increasing levels of U.S. heroin use, which has reached epidemic proportions during the past five years, stems from a corresponding spike in abuse of prescription opiate-based painkillers, such as oxycodone, Drug Enforcement Administration officials said. "Oxy is much more expensive to get than heroin," said Sarah Pullen, a special DEA agent in Los Angeles. "Prescription drug abuse really took hold about 10 years ago, and about five years ago, we really started to see heroin abuse pick up." The amount of heroin seized annually along America's Southwestern border has increased nearly four-fold between 2008 and 2012, from 558.8 kg (1,232 lb) to 2,091 kg (4,610 lb) per year, a sign that smuggling operations are on the rise, the DEA said.

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