City With Biggest Heroin Problem: Chicago

Chicago has earned the unwanted distinction of having the nation's worst heroin problem. And by at least one measure, no other city is close. The Chicago area registered about 24,000 ER visits related to heroin between 2008 and 2010, says a new report by the Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy. In a distance second place was New York City, with about 12,000 such visits, reports the Huffington Post.

The problem is worse in the suburbs than in the city itself, notes the Chicago Tribune, with the consortium's report citing a spike in fatal overdoses there. The newspaper sees signs of hope, however, including a new Good Samaritan law that gives partial immunity to drug users who phone 911 to report another's overdose. (More Chicago stories.)