Why more Americans are getting high — and overdosing — on heroin




PBS NewsHour show

Summary: Heroin is chemically almost identical to prescription painkillers. But the illegal drug is more dangerous and much cheaper than regulated opiates. Jeffrey Brown talks to National Drug Control Policy director R. Gil Kerlikowske and Los Angeles Times reporter Sam Quinones about why heroin use in America has doubled since 2007 and the deadly consequences for users and addicts.