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Lawmakers Find Spike In Heroin Use 'Frightening'

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Alarmed by the exploding use of heroin in the suburbs, the Illinois Legislature has formed a new task force to look for answers.

Lawmakers Look Into Heroin Spike

"We're seeing numbers that are frankly frightening," said Sen. Melinda Bush, a Democrat from Grayslake, who sits on the panel.

She says heroin is no longer just an inner-city plague.

"It was something I think we all thought about as something that happened someplace else," she said. "But, because of the cost coming down and heroin being cleaner, we're seeing numbers that are frightening."

DuPage county, for example, is on track for a record number of heroin deaths this year.

A recent study found that among the 20-to-24-year-old population in the collar counties, hospitalizations for heroin have soared by more than 200 percent.

Bush doesn't know whether the task force will recommend new laws.

At least, she says, the problem will be out in the open.

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