The scourge of heroin is difficult to overlook in southeastern Louisiana, from an exponential increase in overdoses to an alarming spike in trafficking. The highly addictive narcotic has emerged as an affordable drug of choice and a killer to be reckoned with, gaining new users and fueling the state’s violent crime rate.
Heroin-related deaths soared last year from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, and the drug has shown no signs of loosening its grip as the epidemic spills into more and more parishes.