National
Heroin the main cause of death among Barcelona youngsters
By h.b. - May 27, 2008 - 7:29 AM
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The numbers to overdose on the drug last year was up for the first time in three years.
A total of 90 people died from heroin overdoses in Barcelona last year, and according to Público newspaper that makes the drug the largest cause of death among the young in the city, greater than those to die in traffic accidents or in suicides.
The victims were male and aged between 15 and 40.
The new numbers are a shock to many given that the numbers to use the drug had been falling over recent years.
Data from the regional government, La Generalitat, confirm that the average age when people start to use heroin is between 20 and 25, and that sectors of society, such as paperless immigrants and addicts of other substances, are in particular risk.