Heroin Abuse Case Study

Jim, a high school all-star basketball player becomes addicted to heroin. He tries to hide his addiction, but it becomes quite prevalent when it begins to overtake his life entirely. To begin with, Jim reflects on his first experiences with heroin and refers to it as a “chippy” habit. He isn’t aware of the addictiveness of this potent drug, which shortly becomes habitual. His addiction leads to him being kicked off the basketball team, out of his own house, and then desperate on the streets of New York City alongside of his friends. This substantially progresses his addiction, resulting in him passing out in the snow one night. Thanks to Jim’s former basketball friend, Jim is forced to withstand from heroin. Jim become extremely agitated from withdrawal and escapes to look for some more. Jim later finds himself in a six-month rehab, which he notes “the

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.

The Speaker for the day was a nurse and an alcoholic. She has been an alcoholic for many years. She denied her disorder, although some of her coworkers would talk to her about getting help, she said she would tell them she had it under control until one day she realized that her job was in jeopardy because of her late night drinking and hangover. She was not able to care for the patients who were on her care. She stated that she started going to the AA meeting with the help of a friend. However a couple of years later she went back to drinking again until she lost her family and friends. Her husband had walked out on her and she had lost custody of her children because she was unable to take care of them. Further more, she had also withdrawn from her parents because they would advise her to get help. But one day her mother had confronted her about her disorder as

If one traveled through the small quiet community of Monroe, MI you would probably never think that this town has a drug problem. From the outside it seems like a nice middle class suburb that might be ideal to raise a family. For those that reside here however, they know that there is a growing problem. There aren’t many families that haven’t been affected by heroin addiction in this small town. The drug has literally swept through this county like an angry mob of rioters bringing crime, death, and destruction with it, leaving many people in the community asking, “Why?”

The usage of heroin in the Oswego area is visible to law enforcement, but not noticed as much by ordinary residents. Due to the unseen interactions between buyers and sellers, it is easy to believe drug use is non-existent in a community such as Oswego. The truth of the matter is, this is not true. In retrospect, many of the residents use drugs in part because the neighborhood they reside in is expected to be free of such activity. The people who recognized drug use was a problem became advocates to stop the issue. For instance, there is Tim and Shannon Ryan, who are the parents of a son who overdosed from heroin. Tim Ryan, introduced his son Ryan to the world of heroin, would spend $400-$500 a day on his addiction, causing his family to lose their Oswego home and forcing his wife to file for divorce. Hoping to save her family, Shannon Ryan videotapes her husband and son while under the influence believing if they viewed the tape while sober it would cause them to quit the drug. Unfortunately, this was not what happened. The Ryan’s lost their son Nick to heroin usage. Consequently, Tim and his now ex-wife publicly speak out against heroin usage. Tim who is now clean runs a non-profit organization called A Man in Recovery.

Studies indicate that drug abuse is currently on the rise. The results are not limited to an increase in the number of deaths but also in the amount that individuals control. Notably, not only is it in the cities, it continually spreads to neighboring suburbs. Consequently, the number of death toll has more than doubled within a short period. Clearly, the drug is but to be labeled as a threat to the existence of the human race. Recent research indicates that the drug is becoming more prevalent among the whites especially women. Concretely, the increase is a result of the low prices it fetches

However one article caught my eye. It told a story of a 24 year old Hilliard Darby graduate who had been to 14 funerals of friends who died related to heroin. He himself had been a heroin addict, “Heroin wasn't hard for him to find after his path to addiction began in an increasingly common manner: He was prescribed expensive painkillers for a sports-related injury, and the effects of the medication could be replicated with cheap heroin” (Heroin Battle) The pain caused by heroin is calamitous in Hilliard, the 14 funerals he went to, had 14 families, and 14 groups of friends in agony. The families of drug addicts go through a lot of pain. Go to any hilliard school and you will find numerous children of heroin addicts, and it not only affects the children's home life, but their school life. Many children of drug addicts are abused, and grow up to be drug addicts themselves (How Children). In Hilliard, the next generation of heroin addicts is growing up, and within 20 years, Hilliard will be like many cities that have been destroyed by

Everyday, heroin is affecting the daily lives of citizens all across the United States. Just recently, in St. Louis County, a man was driving his car when he overdosed on heroin. After he became unconscious, his vehicle crashed into a family crossing the street, including a two year old in a stroller. The two year old was thrown eight to ten feet, the mother fell on her head and the father suffered a serious leg injury. All family members have since made a successful recovery. Since 2010, while the entire Midwest Region has not seen a spike in heroin related deaths, St. Louis County has. According to a St. Louis County Department of Public Health report, twenty four of the counties forty eight

Though some members of the public health system may have experienced addiction, it is highly unlikely that they have dealt with extreme heroin dependency as those in the community has. The attitude toward heroin addicts truly transforms when their personal accounts are stated rather than having a comprehensive trend or poster-child type figure represent the community. Though one can assume the withdrawal symptoms are difficult, Carter and Frank’s description surely brings into perspective how excruciating withdrawal from such an addictive substance such as heroin is. The withdrawal is as much emotional as it is physical, with the physical consequences “You [are] throwing up and fartin’ and shittin’ at the same time. It’s like you don’t have no control over your ol’ muscles in your rectum whatsoever” (81). However, the emotional consequences are much more intense and inescapable as “the worst part is the heebie-jeebies…the anxiety part just make [you] wanna scream…[it’s like] a million ants crawling through your skin and you just want to peel it off. And there ain’t no sense in bein’” (81). Heroin is one of the most addictive substances in the world to the point where when Hogan was hospitalized for 6 weeks and nearly lost his arm, he wept and stated, “‘I’m scared, Jeff. I’m through with dope,’” only to appear a week later back in Edgewater injecting heroin as he said “‘What else can I do?’” (106). It is near impossible to sincerely understand the toil that such an established dependency can cause when trying to go

Heroin use and overdose in society today is a raging epidemic and, as a result, is tragically destroying too many lives at an early age.  I know we all want our friends and family to live productive, safe, healthy and long lives.  However,  I have personally lost four acquaintances within the past couple of years due to this drug.  My goal is to do everything in my power to persuade everyone to stay as far away from heroin as possible, to resist the temptation of trying the drug , and to not succumb to the potential lurking addiction.

When it comes to this topic I am not that knowledgeable on heroin. My family and I haven't went through something significant like using heroin or any kind of drugs like that. What I do know this reminds me of when last semester we had a panel on Heroin at our University in the MPR room. When I was there I listen and heard how can destroy a family. A cop had a son who was using heroin, and he tried to help him as best as he can. The son later on in the story went to rehab to get clean, and he was successful in doing that. The son was also at the panel with is father the cop as a surprise ending. So from what I know is Edinboro, and Erie are taking steps to address heroin going out making it known. Telling people heroin is back with a force.

I live in Taunton, Massachusetts and for this assignment I chose the health problem heroin overdoses. On Facebook there is a group with the name “Taunton DP Scanner Talk”, which I am a member of. People from the Taunton area and Taunton residents that are listening to the scanner and are being updated, by this what is happening in the town of Taunton. Unfortunately, a lot of times you will hear on the police scanner that another overdose has occurred and that the police is on the wat to the scene. Some of the risk factors of heroin overdoses are that people who use heroin and “shoot up” unintentionally poising themselves, which is the leading cause of fatal deaths. Their intentions are to get high and not to kill themselves. Opioid patience that misuse the substance may also at risk of an overdose. Not enough doctors warn their patients about the risk of an overdose when prescribing opioids. Also people who misuse the substance also have a greater risk of getting HIV, since many users share their needles. Drinking a lot of alcohol is also a risk factor, which

In my area, there is an alarming increase in heroin use. There are frequent reports on the local news channels and too often the reports are of fatal overdoses. From working in the school system, I hear stories daily of students using throughout the county. The abuse is not limited to teenagers, as the reports of deaths include all age groups, but the greatest increase of heroin abuse is being seen in our youth. Every time someone uses heroin they are risking injury, illness, and death. Because a tolerance is built up with each use of the drug, the user needs to increase the dose or use more often to get the desired effects. This also increases the likelihood of an overdose and death. Everyday heroin abuse hits closer and closer to

Most kids at the age of 12 are in Middle School learning about science and math. However, in today’s adolescent life at the age of 12, when kids are barely even an adolescent, they are starting to use heroin. Heroin is increasingly spreading an outbreak throughout Long Island and it has become a widespread addiction that has many side effects. Heroin addiction has caused many overdoses, deaths and arrests. Ten years from now, this epidemic will get worse. There are ways we as a whole can help to recover from this outbreak. Such as treatment centers, education, and spreading awareness of the issue.

Often, an individual or members of the family assume that they are able to help the heroin addict overcome their