Essay On Substance Use

This paper is intended to educate those who almost nothing about heroin and those who use it. Many people have been associated with friends or families who have used some kind of drug. There are many people who have not had any contact with heroin users or if they have, don’t understand much about it. Using various sources about heroin to explain where it came from, how it is used, who uses it and how a person starts on the path towards heroin, preventing addiction, and global issues surrounding this drug. Although the topic of heroin is inexhaustible, it is my hope to spark reader’s curiosity. Knowledge of this drug might just help the reader join in on discussions about heroin.

There are no “safe heroin injection sites.” The only “safe” approach to heroin is to not take it. For addicts, the humane public health response is to help them get and stay sober, or at the very least, opioid replacement therapy in sustained treatment. Any approach without these goals is cruel and dehumanizing- not healing, but perpetuating harm. (Walter 2)

This literature review will focus mainly on the drug use of heroin, the scary numbers behind the drug and the sudden rise of overdosing on the drug across the United States. Issues that will be discussed are what is Heroin, what’s in Heroin that makes it addicting, how it can increase the users risk of contracting other life threatening diseases and where it’s use and abuse are most popular across the United states and we will take a look at multiple studies that show examples of our new drug problem in the United States. While we looked at how homicide rates have dropped while in class, the flip side to that is that the amount of drug usage has risen.

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

Nonmedical Prescription-Opioid abuse in the United States and Michigan has continued to rise, and with it, the devastating results that accompany it. Research has shown that increased opioid abuse leads to an increase in overdose and death, increases in crime and increased incidences of costly blood borne diseases like HIV, AIDS and Hepatitis. It also leads to increased societal costs, such as an increasing number of children in foster care and increased healthcare, workplace and criminal justice costs that can decimate communities and local budgets. Many communities were caught with their heads in the sand, as they were overwhelmed by the influx of prescription opioids into their communities. When policies were finally implemented to curb the amount of prescription opioids in their communities, rates of heroin use (also an opioid) began to skyrocket and people began realizing they had an opioid epidemic on their hands. How to combat this heroin epidemic has been the topic of many debates. This article will attempt to examine the relationship of nonmedical prescription-opioid abuse and its effects on heroin use.

Since the 19th century, the illicit drug, heroin, has been a part of American society. When heroin was first discovered it was thought to be a wonder drug because of the euphoric feeling a person is said to feel after using it. However, once the debilitating effects of this highly addictive drug was realized the anti-drug law, the Harrison Narcotics Act, was enacted that restricted its use to medicinal purposes only. In 1920, heroin was banned altogether through the Dangerous Drug Act (Habal, 2011). Heroin for the most part was thought to have gone underground until the Vietnam War.

In the US, according to CQ Researcher, the number of those that used heroin had more than doubled between the years of 2002 and 2004 and doubled again between 2011 and 2013. It is a growing issue especially due to

Nonmedical Prescription-Opioid abuse in the United States and Michigan has continued to rise, and with it, the devastating results that accompany it. Research has shown that increased opioid abuse leads to an increase in overdose and death, increases in crime and increased incidences of costly blood borne diseases like HIV, AIDS and Hepatitis. It also leads to increased societal costs, such as an increasing number of children in foster care and increased healthcare, workplace and criminal justice costs that can decimate communities and local budgets. Many communities were caught with their heads in the sand, as they were overwhelmed by the influx of prescription opioids into their communities. When policies were finally implemented to curb the amount of prescription opioids in their communities, rates of heroin use (also an opioid) began to skyrocket and people began realizing they had an opioid epidemic on their hands. How to combat this heroin epidemic has been the topic of many debates. This article will attempt to examine the relationship of nonmedical prescription-opioid abuse and its effects on heroin use.

Incarceration of individuals is rapidly rising and the “war on drugs” has targeted opioid addicted users with no other ways of treatment other than jail time. Opioids are widely used for people with legitimate problems and they're easy accessibility is making it possible for people of all ages and race to get a hold of. The crisis of opioid epidemic is only getting bigger along with the jail population. Anything from Xanax to Codeine can be easily attainable for the purposes of getting high. Another that is illegal however is heroin. Anyone and their addiction to opiates can lead them to being incarcerated possibly in the future. And this is a problem that needs to be addressed because these our the next generations we are talking about.

With every five first time heroin users, four of them will have started out by using prescription painkillers (ASAM). According to the Journal of Addiction Medicine, the years 2010 to 2013 showed an increase of heroin-overdose deaths by 37% (NIDA). Until recently, opioid addiction, related criminal activity and death have been deeply casted into the shadows of important issues in our societies at a global level. Care for this particular area of substance abuse is urgent and crucial, one dosage having the capability to kill a person instantly. Before people can rid themselves of the poisons, the human body reacts to the absence of opioids in a powerful cycle of withdrawal. Decades filled with little to no research surrounding the rehabilitation of this common but life threatening illness has unfortunately resulted in few options for people to turn to. Medical experts, politicians and even passionate citizens are beginning to point attention towards this progressively large margin of individuals that are becoming addicted, desperate for treatment, and ending up with results of complete failure. The one-size-fits-all approach to opioid treatment needs to be abolished and replaced with a method of accountability and strict individual progress.

The heroin epidemic’s impact on this nation has demanded action to be taken. Currently, the United States is placing an emphasis on stopping doctors from unnecessarily prescribing opiates such as Vicodin, Percocet, and OxyContin to patients because it often leads to heroin addiction. Furthermore, the country is beginning to focus its efforts on “harm reduction,” which is “a set of practical strategies and ideas aimed at reducing negative consequences associated with [heroin] use” (SouthComm Business Media LLC, 2015, para 12). One form of harm reduction is giving users clean needles at no cost. Offering help to addicts when they come for free needles will increase their chances of recovery, and clean needles prevent the spread of deadly diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis C. SouthComm Business Media LLC (2015) further notes, “…it costs only a dime for a needle versus $90,000 for three months of hepatitis c treatments” (para 14). Another form of harm reduction being used to combat heroin is the use of Naloxone, which reverses the effects of an overdose. Many police officers, medical personnel, family members of heroin addicts, and heroin addicts themselves carry Naloxone with them in case of an overdose. Finally, Suboxone treatment is considered as one of the more effective ways to reduce harm. Suboxone is a drug that blocks the user from getting high and makes it to where they do not crave the drug (SouthComm Business Media LLC, 2015, para 24). Stopping the

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

The idea of a drug free society is a joke. There’s no way for us to completly irradicate drug use, whether it be legal or illigal. A harm reduction approach is much more succesful in the long run at reducing the number of addicts and drug related deaths (Nadelmann). Over the past 10 year some of the more progressive countries around the world have made great strides in reducing the amount of deaths and diseases caused by heroin specifcally (Borden). Many of these harm reduction programs are still in their infancy but “It’s a cautious first step, but an urgently needen one” (Borden). Heroin related death and disease can be greatly reduced through the implementation of general drug reform laws as they pertain to heroin, making sterile needles

I am writing to you, as to express my concern about the heroin abuse issue. According to a National Institute of Drug Abuse 2013 statistic, it states about 24.4million Americans including teens from age of 12 had used heroin in their daily life and this number is expected to be increased tremendously every year. Heroin has been invented only to be used in medical sector such as to relieve pain, but people nowadays have misused the usage of heroin by taking it without recommendation from the expert and some of them consume it in overdose amount. It seems to me that heroin abuse is a serious national problem, which does not only impact the drug user’s life, but the whole society as well as economy welfare. It can alter the function of the addicts’ brains, affect their reputation on careers’ performances, ruin their relationship with the loved ones and can result in a shorten life because of severe health disease. In addition to that, the crime rates will be increased, as they can act aggressively under the influence of heroin, which means they can commit violence without consciousness and they are willing to do anything such as rob or kill people, just to satisfy their need. This situation can get worse, as it can retard the economic growth of United States because the investors from other countries will not invest in a state, which has high social problems. In order to curb this menace, I would like to suggest that you as

One major issue the United States has been struggling with and will continue to struggle with for a long time is the use of illegal drugs, specifically heroin. The problem with this isn?t just that it?s illegal in all 50 states, but it is cheap, dangerous, and highly addictive. The price of heroin is about the same as a fast food meal, making it simple for almost anyone to get ahold of this drug. ?There are only 3 main outcomes that heroin addiction can produce in the end: incarceration, mental hospitals, or death? (Side Effects of Heroin). This just shows that using heroin can put both the user and the people around them in danger. Many long-term users often become dependent on heroin, but with the right help people would