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CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — Heroin use is spreading in Wyoming.

The state is following the national trend in which people addicted to prescription painkillers increasingly are turning to the street drug, often with deadly results.

Kebin Haller is deputy director of operations for the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation. He says he never expected Wyoming would have a heroin problem, but says the state's current situation is alarming.

Haller says his agency has reports of seven fatal heroin overdoses so far this year. That's up from six deaths in all of 2013 and two in 2012.

Jennifer Yates of Casper says her son Dylan became addicted to heroin in Wyoming several years ago before dying in California in May. She's organizing a 5K run and walk Saturday in Casper to raise awareness about heroin.

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