Heroin Overdoses Challenge Hospitals

California\'s hospitals have seen a dramatic spike over the last decade in the number of patients being treated for heroin overdoses. New data released by the Office of Statewide Planning and Development (OSHPD) shows a nearly doubling in the number of patients overdosing on heroin being treated at hospital emergency rooms or admitted as inpatients between 2005 and the first half of last year. The numbers tend to confirm national numbers released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this month, and tend to suggest an epidemic of hard drug use by whites in relatively affluent parts of the state.