The traditional understanding of the typical heroin addict used to be within a younger crowd with the drug proliferating in the inner city's poorer minorities. However, according to a new analysis conducted by Dr Theodore J. Cicero, the average heroin user is no longer a male teenager usually with a race of color, it's more of a mid-20s non-urbanite, white woman.

Cicero, vice-chairman of research at the Washington University School of Medicine, looked at survey responses of an estimated 2,500 patients in various publicly and privately funded centers, totaling 150, across the nation with some individuals participating in interviews.

"Our surveys have shown a marked shift in the demographics of heroin users seeking treatment over the past several decades," according to the report's discussion.

Over the last 50-years, there has been a dramatic shift in the heroin use with users now predominantly white men and women who are under the age of 30 and living outside large urban areas. The findings indicate that 75 per cent of individuals had first been exposed to opioids through prescription drugs. This differs from the trend in the 1960s when 80% per cent of users began their drug addiction directly with heroin.

"The pattern seems to have shifted entirely," quoted The National Journal of the lead researcher. "It appears that, over time, the supply of prescription opioids became a little less abundant, the price rose, and the expense for a drug habit meant these people had to shift to something else."

Heroin has increasingly become the drug of choice given its affordability as compared to prescription drugs and is easier to access.

"Our data just serves as a warning that heroin has become a mainstream drug ... occurring in more suburban and rural areas among white males and females," Cicero told Medical Daily.

The situation presents a grim image as more people leave the safety of prescribed drugs and take an uncontrolled viand of heroin. There is an increased risk of exposure to overdose, infections of HIV or Hepatitis due to needle usage and sharing as well as a number of other health complications.

"When [heroin] was in the cities, it was something we could ignore," Cicero said. "Now it's a problem of mainstream America. It's hit the middle class." It's important to curb its spread and get to the root cause of why people take it in the first place.