Health Impact of Opiate Use

"The first and most direct impact of opiates is on health, including heroin-related deaths. Opiates (including synthetics) account for 35% to almost 100% of all drug-related deaths in the 22 European countries that have provided data, and over 85% in 11 of those countries.⁶⁹ In addition, heroin abuse by injection contributes to high rates of serious diseases such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV.⁷⁰ The HIV epidemic among injecting drug users continues to develop at varying rates across Europe. In the countries of the European Union, the rates of reported newly diagnosed cases of HIV infection among injecting drug users are mostly at stable and low levels, or in decline. However, in post-soviet European countries such as Ukraine, Belarus and the Republic of Moldova, those rates increased in 2007."