Addiction To Heroin Research Paper

Heroin, a powerful narcotic, acts upon the brain as a painkiller, increasing physical addiction and ongoing emotional dependence (Schaffer Library of…). Heroin has many challenging and highly risky effects on the user, all the more hazardous if overdosing is present. This extremely dangerous drug, heroin, will never cease being used, but may cease the existence of an individual.

Heroin is a drug most children grow up learning about as being one of the worst things you can do. Being young, a child could never imagine doing something to them that is harmful. Yet here we are, at home, right in Northeast Ohio with the biggest heroin epidemic in history. Heroin is essentially a pain blocker. It turns into morphine when it enters the brain. Is this why it is so popular, or is it because this drug is becoming cheaper and cheaper? The answer is both. Heroin offers users a cheap, quick fix to temporarily numb themselves. With its growing popularity, this drug needs to be stopped. The Heroin and Opioid Epidemic Northeast Ohio Community Action Plan is currently a working draft that will

Chronic use of the drug can cause collapsed veins from injection, heart infections, abscesses, constipation, gastrointestinal cramping, and liver disease. Street heroin is known to contain additives that can clog the blood vessels that may lead to the lungs or brain. This can lead to infection in the cells of vital organs. If used heavily and then stopped, withdrawal symptoms will occur, causing the user to become restless, have drug cravings, muscle and bone pain, diarrhea and vomiting, cold flashes, insomnia, and kicking movements. Withdrawal symptoms typically occur between 24 to 48 hours after the user's last dosage and usually subside after a week (Types of Prescription

People should know what they are getting themselves in if they are going to choose to go through this bumpy road in life. There are so many consequences that can come from heroin so make sure you are ready to face them. You are harming yourself and the people around you so make sure you inform yourself on what can come from heroin.

Headlines such as ¨Heroin Addiction Sweeps Small Towns¨ and David Muir Reporting Breaking Point Heroin in America¨ (ABC 20/20 March 2016) are only two of hundreds of such headlines that give credence to this epidemic. This is taking a heartbreaking toll on communities across America. Heroin is a drug that does not discriminate based on sex, age or ethnic backgrounds. A user can be your neighbor, a family member and even someone who has affluence status. The fastest growing segment of society is teenagers and young adults in their early 20ś making up 57% of the total users.

Heroin addicts have the psychological dependence on heroin that leads them into the state of self-destruction and the possibility of leading to death by the extreme use of heroin. Never estimate the poppy flower for its power that withholds the fiends to their mentality enduring the euphoria enslavement of the mind that contained for many centuries. The heroin addiction nation is a self numbing injection and dry approach to have the mind under the state of the greatest feeling of great happiness leaving the pain behind under the spell of heroin. Heroin comes in many forms for addicts to enjoy in their own way. They come in powder and rock like form that is combined with other narcotics. The snorting form for heroin is not

Psychological effects are very pronounced. To a heroin addict there is only two groups of people, the user and everyone else. The addict will often surround himself with other users. This ensures a continued supply of the drug as well as someone who will keep their dirty secret. This is also dangerous on two other related front. Since HIV and hepatitis can be transmitted with a shared needle they append other health related issues. The effect continues when the addiction causes a person to withdraw from their family, careers are ruined, debt increases and illegal activities is perpetrated. For most addicts there is only three consequences. They are incarceration, mental hospital or death.

Withdrawal symptoms can include muscle and bone pain, sleep problems, diarrhea and vomiting, cold flashes with goose bumps, uncontrollable leg movements, severe heroin cravings (“Heroin”).

Heroin is bad. That should not come as a surprise. What might come as a surprise, on the other hand, is that America is currently going through a heroin epidemic. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Heroin use more than doubled among young adults aged 18-25 in the past decade.” However, heroin addictions do not arise ex nihilo. The silent perpetrators are pharmaceutical companies and their weapons are prescription painkillers.

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 669,000 Americans reported using heroin in the year of 2012. The number of people using heroin for the first time is dramatically high, with 156,000 people starting in 2012, doubling from the year 2009 (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2014) Those using heroin are typically adults aged between 18-25 years old. The impact of heroin is felt all over the United States affecting many people. Heroin is identified as one of the most important drug issues, therefore this is a social problem that is becoming typical, and more people are coming across negative health effects due to it.

In the United States every year the percentage of deaths related to overdose increases drastically. Heroin is one of the top drugs in the United States used and cause of overdose. There are numerous types of heroin that is being sold on the streets because of different things however I’m talking about heroin in general. This drug has become a nationwide problem and is affecting many families and friendships who have loved addicted to or using heroin. Once addictions get too bad friends and family begin to distant themselves and the person more than likely start to feel alone and the drug is the only thing to comfort them. Abusers go for the drug that is easier to get ahold of rather going after the drug that is difficult to get their hands on. Heroin has become more prevalent in teenagers and young adults than any other drug, kills more people every year and was made to help those addicted to morphine.

Users report experiencing intense pleasure and numbness of pain.  Each time the brain is exposed to heroin, it craves more of the drug to get the same effectiveness, which in turn causes the person to build up a tolerance.  The person begins to spiral into a vicious cycle of using more and more of the drug until they ultimately become addicted.  Heroin raises blood pressure and heart rate.  Overtime, the brain is physically altered and the white brain matter deteriorates.  This causes a decline in the person’s ability to make good decisions.   In the case of an overdose, the rate of breathing is lowered causing a lack of oxygen to the body.  Narcan is a drug that can be administered to combat the effects of heroin, however, it needs to be given before the heart stops.  There have been some people who seek an ultimate high and have purposely overdosed on heroin, with the hope that Narcan will prevent death.  Sadly, too often this plan does not work and the person has died as a result.

It is clear that heroin usage is on the rise and will continue on this same path until the discussion widens to people of all walks of life. Heroin is impacting the entire nation, and has become such a critical issue that it has even been addressed in the recent presidential debates. Both candidates showcase an active interest in finding effective solutions to the problem and vow to make drug prevention part of their long-term political

Heroin addiction is a chronically relapsing disease, usually characterized by tendencies such as drug seeking, drug abuse, tolerance and physical dependence. Substance abuse disorders have increased the levels of morbidity and mortality and with a consequent significant increase in HIV spread across the globe. Heroin increases psychiatric disorders, especially with mood anxiety, impulse control, and imbalance –related disorders.

The effects of heroin can be very devastating, both short term and long term effects. There is a rapid physical change that can be seen due to the use of heroin. People who use heroin may experience a few pleasant short term effects such as; feelings of being warm and flushed, heavy sensation in extremities, and sedation. Unpleasant side effects may include drowsiness and lethargy. The long term effects is what really gives heroin such a bad reputation. Within a short period of time severe side effects come in. Such as; oral damage (gums and teeth), digestive issues, severe itching causing people to itch till you bleed causing scabs, breaking down of the immune system, malnutrition, sleeping irregularities, and decrease in sexual functions