Why heroin has made a comeback in AmericaMillions of people have been introduced to opioids via prescription painkillers, while an increase in supply from Mexico has kept prices down HEROIN was a scourge of America’s cities in the 1960s and 70s. But then it seemed to go out of fashion. By the 1990s it was less widely used than crack cocaine. In Europe its use has continued to decline, with the num