The number of heroin users has doubled in the past five years, a trend driven in part by the rising cost of prescription medications. And in Vermont, the number of people seeking treatment for heroin addiction has skyrocketed 250 percent since 2000.
NBC News spoke with three patients at Green Mountain Family Medicine in Rutland, Vt., who were visiting the clinic for Suboxone, a drug treatment for opioid dependence. Watch the video below to hear their stories. (Full names are being withheld to protect their identities.)
Tonight, we’ll have more about America’s growing epidemic on “Nightly News with Brian Williams” as part of NBC News’ new series on heroin addiction.