Last month’s seizure of a large cache of firearms and drugs by the Eastside Narcotics Task Force is just one highlight to the regional struggle to contain a heroin epidemic that is showing no signs of slowing down.

In 2010, the task force seized just less than 1,000 grams of heroin. This year it already has taken nearly 6,000 grams, or roughly 13 pounds of heroin off the street.

The Bellevue Fire Department reports its use of Narcan (Nalaxone), a drug administered to those suffering from an opiate overdose, increased from 49 patients in 2010 to 75 in 2013. The Bellevue Police Department also is  considering equipping its officers with Narcan; Officers have responded to more than 120 heroin-related calls this year, up from fewer than 40 in 2010.

“It reverses that effect immediately,” said Bellevue Fire Lt. Rich Burke. “We do track the use of (Narcan) but there’s no way to say we used that in the face of a heroin overdose as opposed to an oxycodone or morphine overdose.”

While prescription opiates like oxycodone and oxycontin have long been in high demand, heroin has become a cheap and more easily accessible alternative over the past several years, said Norman Johnson, chief executive officer for Therapeutic Health Services, which has been operating a methadone clinic in Bellevue since 2012.

THS started with 90 Eastside clients when it opened in July 2012, due to demand for closer treatment than Seattle. It now serves 415 clients, a 360-percent increase since its opening. It is contractually allowed 440 clients under an agreement with King County. THS Eastside Branch Manager Jeremy Peterson said that increase is partly due to an increase in heroin use, but also is the result of better access to treatment services.

Johnson said strides made nationally to curb the use of prescription painkillers has been effective, but is also driving demand for heroin. Under a new rule by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency that took effect Oct. 6, hydrocodone combination products were reclassified from a Schedule III to Schedule II narcotic, making them more difficult to obtain.

“That has an incredible implication, from my experience,” said Johnson, adding the reclassification is expected to drive the demand for heroin even higher.

Heroin became more attractive to those addicted to oxycodone and oxycontin several years ago, when pharmaceutical companies removed ingredients that allowed the drugs to be smoked, said Bellevue Police Capt. Bill Bryant, who serves on the Eastside Narcotics Task Force.

“That’s when heroin was cheaper at the time,” he said.

A gram of heroin can cost between $100 to $125 in today’s black market, which means around $600,000 in product has been seized by the task force so far this year. The typical addict, Bryant said, uses 1-3 grams daily, which results in users committing crimes to afford their habit.

“It’s affecting the whole spectrum of crimes out there,” Bryant said, from thefts and robberies to domestic violence.

The narcotics task force has ramped up its emphasis on combatting the heroin problem on the Eastside over the past several years, seeking out mid- to high-level traffickers of black tar heroin coming out of South America and Mexico.

There also is a push from law enforcement to see more dealers and traffickers charged with controlled substance homicides related to fatal overdoses of heroin, Bryant said, adding that there have been at least eight in Bellevue over the past several years.

According to a 2013 report on drug abuse trends in King County by the University of Washington Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute, heroin-involved deaths increased from 49 in 2009 to 99 in 2013.

What’s most frightening for the Bellevue Police captain is how quickly heroin is growing in popularity among teens.

Young adults were the largest age group seeking treatment for heroin addiction in 2013, according to the ADIA report, and heroin-involved deaths by those under 30 years old increased from seven in 2009 to 34 in 2013.

“Heroin is very accessible in the high schools,” Bryant said, “and I don’t think there’s a high school out there that is immune to it because it’s so prevalent.”

“What’s going on on the Eastside with young people,” said Johnson, “there will be demand for more (heroin).”

Just as high school cliques exist, dividing likeminded teens into various social groups, Peterson said heroin users become part of a subculture, bonded by addiction.

“They wind up in families of their own,” he said.

While law enforcement continues to target the sources of heroin around King County, Johnson said Therapeutic Health Services is working to reduce the time required to dispense methadone. THS is also adding primary care physicians at its facilities — Capitol Hill, followed by Bellevue and then Everett — to provide preventative care for those in treatment to reduce the physical symptoms that come with getting clean.

THS is now requesting qualifications from contractors to begin construction of a new methadone clinic in Snohomish County, Johnson said.Jim Vollendroff, director for the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Division of the King County Department of Community and Human Services, said Evergreen Treatment Services is working hard to handle treatment demands in south King County.

With the expansion of Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act, Vollendroff said his agency will continue to add to its network of drug treatment providers, such as THS and ETS, as the demand increases.

A legislative forum on mental health and substance abuse will be held 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13, at Town Hall Seattle, and includes an update on what actions King County desires from the Legislature during its 2015 session.