Dr. Greg Skipper of Promises Treatment Centers this week told Jim Thornton and Diane Thompson of KNX Radio that the incredible potency of the heroin found on the streets today can be a fatal threat to anyone addicted to opiates. Dr. Skipper, a fellow of the American Board of Addiction Medicine and Director of Professionals Health Services at Promises, told KNX that Americans are among the heaviest consumers of opiates (morphine, heroin, codeine, oxycodone, hydrocodone, etc.) in the world. Some of the most publicized struggles are those of celebrities and other public figures. "… Being a celebrity who is wealthy and well-known, you have a lot of opportunity and that’s one reason these guys have such a hard time staying clean and sober," Dr. Skipper said. From 2007 to 2012, the number of Americans using heroin nearly doubled, from 373,000 to 669,000, according to the federal government’s most recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health, released last fall. Heroin use has increased so much in Ohio that users say it is “falling out of the sky,” according to a news report by state health officials.