Authorities say heroin is making a return to Iowa, often with deadly consequences.

Mexican brown heroin is showing up more and more in the area. The newspaper says 22 people have died from heroin overdoses in Cedar Rapids, with three deaths in Johnson County this year.

Scott Smith with the Drug Enforcement Administration says heroin is being brought into the area from drug organizations in Chicago that can offer the cheaper, more potent alternative for harder-to-obtain opiates like oxycodone.

The 2011 National Threat Assessment, an annual report compiled by the U.S. Justice Department, says Linn and Scott counties among those where heroin-related overdoses increased between 2008 and 2010.