Fresh out of high school, Douglas Klave took to abusing prescription drugs.

"Oxycotin, Vicodin, Annex, Morphine...any type of pill I could get my hands on," Klave said.

His addiction grew so intense, the pills could no longer feed it. And that's when he turned to something harder: heroin.

"'Cause you could get a little tiny bit for a cheap amount but eventually your tolerance builds up," he said.

For four years, Klave injected heroin every single day.

"I had to. Couldn't get out of bed. And if I couldn't get out of bed, I couldn't work, and if I couldn't work, I basically couldn't pay for my habit," Klave said.

But users aren't the only ones who know how addictive heroin is. Police tell us out on the streets, crack and cocaine dealers are switching to heroin, and making huge profits.

"A heroin user has to have it in the morning, in the afternoon, for dinner, for a midnight snack, they have to wake up with it," said Det. Lt. Dave Cook, with Michigan State Police and the Jackson Narcotics Enforcement Team (JNET).

"It's like a monkey on your back," said Klave. "You don't control your life, it controls your life."

Det. Lt. Cook counts 12 heroin-related deaths last year in Jackson county, versus three the year before.

"It used to be marijuana was the huge problem. Cocaine was a huge problem. Meth was a huge problem, now it just seems to be shifting to heroin," Cook said. "So far every single case we've pulled this year is a heroin case."

But the problem is not unique to Jackson. Statewide, publicly funded treatment centers are seeing more heroin cases than ever before.

"Heroin went from being 10 percent of the admissions to now it's about a sixth of the admissions or 16 percent," said Phil Chvojka, departmental specialist for the Department of Community Health's Bureau of Substance Abuse and Addiction Services.

And they are seeking treatment at a younger age.

In 2003 the bulk of heroin cases--36 percent--were older--ages 45 to 54--while 12 percent were 25 and younger. But 2011 was a different story. Only 16 percent of heroin cases were 45 to 54 years old, while 26 percent were 25 and younger.

But for Klave, getting help was easier said than done.

"Only thing I really wanted was help. But I couldn't ask for it. They sent me to rehab. I got out and relapsed within a week. I was on probation, I never went to even see my probation officer. I never went and dropped," he said.

So what finally did it?

"Jail. I sat in jail for six months, 181 days. That whole time I thought this is the best thing that's ever happened to me," said Klave.

He suffered through withdrawal behind bars. But since getting clean, Klave went back to school and started working toward his journeyman's card.

"These last two years basically I've been loving life, and I think, I could have had this so long ago," said Klave.

What helped Klave was staying away from other drug users, even when it meant losing friends.

But as one user escapes the cycle, another takes his place. It's a system police are meeting with increased enforcement, and aggressive prosecution.

Data from the Department of Community Health also shows as abuse of other opiates increases, so does Heroin abuse.

Experts urge people to properly dispose of prescription drugs so they don't fall into the wrong hands. In fact, there's a push in Jackson County to set up a permanent, secure "drug drop box."