Heroin users do not simply "grow out" of their drug addiction, experts say, with more people like US actor Philip Seymour Hoffman using the drug in their 40s and 50s - and dying from overdose.
Hoffman was found dead on Sunday afternoon US time (3.30am Monday AEST), after a possible heroin overdose
The 46-year-old star of stage and screen had apparently battled with mental health and addiction issues since his university years. He checked himself into rehab last year after a relapse in his heroin addiction - 23 years after he kicked the habit.
Shane Darke, a professor at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of NSW, said the medical community was seeing more deaths from heroin among people in their 40s, 50s and even 60s who had cycled in and out of treatment.
Written by Amy Corderoy. To continue reading please visit: http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/philip-seymour-hoffmans-death-in-line-with-heroin-use-trends-20140203-31wdc.html#ixzz2sJmVAXLd