EAST HADDAM, Conn. -- Heroin, long a problem in Connecticut larger cities and suburbs, is now gaining popularity in smaller towns across the state.

Many residents choose to live in smaller towns to avoid the issues that plague major urban areas such as traffic, pollution and drugs. At least one of those more cosmopolitan problems appears to be extending its reach.

Thoughts of East Haddam are most often accompanied by the sights and sounds coming from the Goodspeed Opera House and a quiet community on the banks of the Connecticut River.

It has come as a surprise to some locals that, along with the steady stream of tourists, has come an unwanted visitor -- heroin.

The drug made its presence in the town known in August, when a pair of young adults overdosed in two separate instances.

According to family members, in one of the cases, 21-year-old Karyn Wheeler, died from the overdose.

The owner of an East Haddam convenience store told Eyewitness News that Wheeler worked for him for three months, and that one day she just didn't show up.

Michael Bernard, 23, of nearby East Hampton, said he has first-hand knowledge of the drug.

"I was hooked on it for a few months, and I went downhill really fast," he said. "I ended up in the rehab. When I got out of rehab, I had a nervous breakdown, and I ended up in a psychiatric unit because of it."

Bernard said his addiction began with prescription painkillers.

"It was the people I was hanging out with, I was just kind of pressured into it. No one forced me to do it, but it was put in front of me, and one day I didn't have pills, and I did that. I just got hooked on it for a while," he said.

Bernard said he was hooked on heroin for several months, and has been clean for the past six.

"I get urges and cravings sometimes that are just so horrible, I just have to sleep it off. I haven’t used in six months, and every day it's like a battle, and when they say heroin is a lifelong addiction, it really is," Bernard said.

A woman, who wished to only be identified as Brenda, agreed. She said the euphoric high she got from heroin lessened as she became more hooked.

"In the beginning, your body is light, it's warm and it's fuzzy and you're just in bliss. As your addiction progresses, it becomes maintenance, and you need it just to have a normal day," she said.

Police said heroin becomes not just a problem for the users, but also the places where they live.

Last month East Hampton police arrested a group of men from the area who were accused of looting homes to support their heroin habits.

"We believe that it was drug-related crimes, and it looks to possible be heroin involved," said East Hampton Police Chief Matthew Reimondo.

The heroin-use trend has caught the attention of experts in the drug treatment field, along with some town leaders including Toni McCabe who have been meeting to discuss it.

"We have anecdotal information that does suggest that heroin is an issue for us in our community," said McCabe, director of East Haddam Youth and Family Services.

Sheryl Sprague, a prevention manager at the Rushford Center, said that people have a lot of misconceptions about heroin users.

"Many people are thinking that a heroin addict is a street junkie," Sprague said. "The face of heroin is a Caucasian male between the ages of 15 and 25. That's predominantly what we're seeing in treatment at this point."

Sprague said tackling the problem of heroin use is another problem. She said that between 2005 and 2007, there was a 16 percent increase in clients served between the ages of 15 and 25 listing heroin as the drug of choice when seeking treatment and the Middletown and Meriden Rushford sites.

"Heroin is now very cheap, it's very pure, it doesn't have to be injected, it can be snorted, and so there isn't that persona of the junkie that's shooing themselves up," she said.

Bernard said that he found heroin easy to obtain.

"It came in little was baggies … and cheap, like scary cheap," he said.

He said he used to buy bags of heroin for as little as $4 a bag.

"There was this notion that it must be out-of-towners coming in and causing the problem, but it's not. It's us and it's our kids, and it's our grandkids and nieces and nephews," said East Haddam Selectman Pete Govert. "I've learned it's not just East Haddam, but our neighbors are struggling with it."

Solutions to the problem run the gamut from more activities to keep young adults busy to giving parents tips on preventing drug use.