A new study has revealed that use of heroin is more common among middle-class suburban dwellers who started off with prescription painkillers.

It was once thought that the problem persisted among teens living in impoverished neighborhoods in large cities. Now, heroin use has become more common among whites in their early 20s, according to a research published online May 28 in JAMA Psychiatry.

A shift in the trend of heroin use has been witnessed in the past five years or so. It won't be wrong to say that heroin abuse has migrated to the suburbs, said lead researcher Theodore Cicero, a professor of psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis.

Cicero's study was based on findings on a nationwide survey of 9,000 patients dependent on narcotic painkillers. It was found that 90% of heroin users were whites and 75% of them lived in less urban areas. Also, 75% of them did not start taking heroin in the beginning as they were first introduced to opioids through prescription drugs.

"In the past, heroin was a drug that introduced people to narcotics. But what we're seeing now is that most people using heroin begin with prescription painkillers such as OxyContin, Percocet or Vicodin, and only switch to heroin when their prescription drug habits get too expensive", said Cicero in a statement.

Cicero continued by saying that the price of prescription painkillers, like OxyContin, has become a big concern for many patients and most of them are not in the position to afford them, so as a last resort they turn to heroin and become addicted to it. As a matter of fact, 80 milligram tablet of OxyContin is available for $80 compared to heroin available for $10.

As it was made more difficult to use one drug, people devised other ways to get high and they just don't seem to stop using drugs.