MEMPHIS, TN--Heroin is rarely talked about, but according to doctors in Memphis, the drug is becoming more and more popular in the Mid-South.
"Heroin has really shot through the roof," says Dr. John McCoy of Serenity Recovery Centers. "It's their best friend, it's their lover, it's number one in their lives."
McCoy says a couple of decades ago in Memphis, heroin wasn't in anyone's life.
"We didn't have any heroin to speak of in Memphis 30 years ago."
Kristy Caywood of Serenity Recovery Centers says, "It's kind of taken us by surprise."
She says the number of people using heroin increases each year.
"In the past three years, our admissions for heroin use has doubled."
Caywood says, of the 134 people being treated for drug addiction at Serenity Recovery Centers, about 23% of those are for heroin use.
McCoy and Caywood say there are many reasons more people are turning to the drug. One reason is the drug is really cheap. They also say, "It's hard to get prescription drugs to use illicitly for a lot of people. The physicians in Memphis have straightened up things as far as controlling prescriptions."
Doctors say while cocaine and meth are the most addictive drugs, heroin is the deadliest.
Caywood says heroin users are typically between the ages of 18 and 35 and come from well-to-do suburban families.
