Story highlights Heroin overdoses are up 39% from 2012 to 2013

The number of people dying after abusing drugs is higher than the number of people killed in traffic accidents

Almost half of young people who use heroin today started with prescription opioids

(CNN) Many more people are dying from heroin overdoses than in previous years, according to the latest available statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An analysis of those numbers and what might be responsible for the uptick in heroin deaths appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday.

In general, drug overdose deaths have been on the rise for the past two decades, but the number of deaths from heroin use is up by 39%.

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That means 5,927 people died after using heroin in 2012 and that number jumped to 8,260 deaths in 2013. Those are the latest numbers available.

This is the third year in a row that heroin deaths have increased.