State legislature budgets includes $1M for opiate abuse prevention

An increase in heroin usage around the state and country has not gone unnoticed by the state legislature.

In the Assembly, members have proposed $1 million in funds be allocated from its 2014-2015 budget towards prevention and treatment programs. In the State Senate, members included $450,000 in their budget for opioid prevention and treatment.

The moves come as drugs of choice move from prescription to non-prescription drugs, which are cheaper and easier to come by. Between 2007 and 2012, heroin use in the country reportedly increased 79 percent and 81 percent of first-time users had previously used prescription drugs, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy.