The Lewis family of Northampton, who lost two children to the heroin epidemic, are not alone in coping with the devastating impact of addiction.

According a report released July 10 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, deaths from heroin overdoses nearly quadrupled between 2002 and 2013.The rates went from 0.7 deaths per every 100,000 people to 2.7 deaths per 100,000, with a near doubling of the rates from 2011 to 2013.In 2013, an estimated 517,000 people reported heroin abuse or addiction in the previous year, a nearly 150 percent increase since 2007.Between 2002-11, first-time heroin use was highest among those living in the northeastern United States, males, people between 18-25 years, non-Hispanic whites, and those whose annual incomes were less than $20,000.The report also indicates that most heroin users have histories of nonmedical use of prescription opioid pain relievers, and that the increase in the rate of heroin overdose deaths has occurred at the same time as the epidemic of prescription opioid overdoses.