DENVER — In 2002, the City of Denver recorded just three heroin deaths on the record due to overdoses. That number has skyrocketed by 933 percent at the close of 2016.
Across Colorado, there's been a similar trend. From 2001 to 2016, Colorado has seen a 756 percent increase in fatal heroin overdoses.
The drug exploded in popularity due to its cheap price, intense highs and ready availability. Users who take the drug once are typically hooked, and many are hooked until their deaths.
Drug overdoses on heroin happen quickly and often times — due to the desire to keep drug use secret — privately. The struggle of first responders, family and friends who may come across an overdose victim has been helped by the proliferation of a life-saving drug called Narcan, which can bring back to life a person who is overdosing.
Colorado's deaths have been steadily on the rise since 2010, when deaths dropped a small percentage.
In 2016, 197 people lost their lives to the drug across the state 31 of those deaths happened in Denver, according to provisional data from the state.
The amount of deaths from heroin don't include other opioids, nor synthetic opioids, which increase the number of overall overdose deaths in Colorado into the thousands. Those drugs, which frequently can be prescribed as painkillers, can be where addiction starts.
See the data obtained by Denver7 below:
2001 —
Colorado: 23 deaths
Denver: Not available
2002 —
Colorado: 27 deaths
Denver: 3 deaths
2003 —
Colorado: 21 deaths
Denver: 3 deaths
2004 —
Colorado: 22 deaths
Denver: Not available
2005 —
Colorado: 41 deaths
Denver: 4 deaths
2006 —
Colorado: 39 deaths
Denver: 6 deaths
2007 —
Colorado: 39 deaths
Denver: 12 deaths
2008 —
Colorado: 46 deaths
Denver: 16 deaths
2009 —
Colorado: 68 deaths
Denver: 32 deaths
2010 —
Colorado: 46 deaths
Denver: 21 deaths
2011 —
Colorado: 79 deaths
Denver: 24 deaths
2012 —
Colorado: 91 deaths
Denver: 17 deaths
2013 —
Colorado: 118 deaths
Denver: 25 deaths
2014 —
Colorado: 151 deaths
Denver: 35 deaths
2015 —
Colorado: 160 deaths
Denver: 32 deaths