The Interim Director of the Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy says heroin use in Iowa is at its highest rate in decades. Dale Woolery says eastern Iowa’s Cedar Valley Corridor has seen a recent rash of overdose deaths. Woolery says heroin still isn’t a prevalent drug in the state.

Data from substance abuse treatment centers, shows that heroin users make up less than 1% of patients. “And while it appears to be a relatively small number, that’s as high as it’s been in 20 years, so, I think we are seeing a trend we don’t want to see, but it’s relatively small compared to some of the other substances,” according to Woolery.

Woolery says there seems to be an increase in the country’s heroin supply coming from Mexico. Eastern Iowa’s heroin seems to be coming, primarily, through Chicago. Woolery made his comments on the Iowa Public Radio program “The Exchange.”