In a recent 6-year period, 252 people were hospitalized for heroin poisoning; 72 died.
A new report from the state health department shows an alarming increase in hospitalizations and deaths related to heroin in Alaska.
72 people died from heroin use between 2008 and 2013, and the number of heroin-related deaths more than tripled during that time.
Heroin treatment has cost Alaska millions of dollars.
The report documents over 250 hospitalizations related to heroin overdose between 2008 and 2013. The average cost of one of these visits was $30,000 dollars. A visit to the emergency room for heroin cost an average of $2,700 dollars.
The total cost of inpatient and outpatient heroin treatment was more than $2 million dollars during that six-year period.
The report also suggests an increase in heroin use among low-income people in Alaska.
Medicaid payment requests for heroin overdose increased nearly ten-fold from 2004 to 2013. And from 2009 to 2013, heroin-related admissions to publicly funded treatment centers doubled.