The Obama administration has announced a new initiative to address the epidemic of heroin overdoses in the United States. Heroin-related deaths have nearly quadrupled over the past decade, in part because people are turning to cheap heroin after becoming addicted to prescription painkillers. The new initiative focuses on 15 hard-hit Northeastern states and involves hiring both drug intelligence officers and policy analysts. In a statement, the Drug Policy Alliance said, “Half of what they’re doing is right — the focus on health and overdose prevention — but the other half, the side that focuses on the failed arrest and incarceration policies of the past, is destined to ruin lives and fail.”