Heroin Drugs And Its Effects On The Lives Of Young White Males

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.

rate and cities are struggling to find solutions. The CDC reports that 27,000 people die each year due to heroin overdoses. The jails are filled with offenders, that once released go out and use again, continuing a cycle of insanity without producing answers. Youths experiment with drugs, which is nothing new, but the availability of heroin, meth and the lack of education has contributed greatly to this epidemic. No one seemed to be paying any attention until it reached epidemic proportions, or as some have suggested, became "a white middle class problem" that surpassed the poor minority population.

Heroin addiction is one of the leading killers of adolescents and adults in the United States. In recent years, addiction has skyrocketed, and “the rate of heroin-related overdose deaths increased by 286 percent between 2002 and 2013.” In 2002, “100 people per 100,000 were addicted to heroin, and that number has doubled by 2013” (The National Institute on Drug Abuse 2013). The most affected populations include low income males, adolescents, and those who have a family history of addiction, due to their increased susceptibility and crime-ridden environment. While it may seem as though heroin addiction is “just another drug problem” in the U.S., it is actually a problem of major public health importance because there are numerous physical, economic, and social risks associated with heroin dependence. Heroin dependence in the United States accounts for brain damage, increased homelessness, crime, and incarceration rates, as well as economic decline.

African American are some of the most affected by the opiate crisis. When it comes to the opiate crisis in the United States, most people have a mental image of who the most commonly affected type of people affected by this epidemic. Back in the day, in most people’s minds, the ‘‘typical” junkie was a white person shooting up heroin under a bridge in the middle of a city, in the outskirts of town, or they were the homeless man or woman asking you for spare change when you’re walking out of a grocery store. Over time, the ‘typical’ addict has changed. Now, a lot of white kids from suburban communities who got hooked on painkillers and subsequently got onto heroin, such as your high school athlete or your studious 20- somethings in college. That’s

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

No one identity is sought after as it pertains to substance abuse addiction. In 1972 within Miami, the demographic data of the “common addict” was outlines as a single white male between the ages of 19 and 25 (Drugs in our Schools, 1972). Not operating inside a vacuum, drug addiction can affect all racial and ethnic backgrounds to include all ages.

According to the NSDUH data, women are prescribed abuse-prone opioid medications more often than men, but men are found to abuse opioid drugs non-medically at higher rates than women (Back et al. 2010). Alternatively, middle aged, 25 to 34 years old, have the highest rates of opioid overdoses. In addition, researchers have found that whites, American Indians or Alaska Natives, and people living in rural counties are also more likely to abuse prescription pain relievers (CDC, 2011). These racial trends demonstrate the disparity between races when it comes to health care, more specifically is it shown that race has a major impact on physician and patient care (CDC, 2011). In regards to socioeconomic status (SES), it is shown through research that people in higher SES areas are prescribed more opioid medications more often than those in the low SES communities (Galea & Vlahov, 2002). As well as, those with lower education are three times more likely to receive medical prescriptions for opioids than those in higher educational levels (Platts-Mills et al., 2012). Therefore, the opioid abuse epidemic has shown it’s effects in unique and harmful ways to those who are experiencing homelessness (National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2016). A study in Connecticut revealed that 25 percent of homeless individuals had identified opioid, especially heroin, abuse being the main reason for their homelessness (National Alliance to End Homelessness,

Across the country social shifts of the twenty first century has been the drug use migration. It goes from centers of urban poverty to places that are suburban, white and or middle class. Over the recent years, a third of all DEA heroin seizures took place in the state of New York. Drug abuse is rising and becoming deadlier than ever. Staten Island has become a particular nexus of affliction. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, heroin was considered to be a plague in some of New York City’s poorest neighborhoods. A New York Times report indicates that the new face of heroin addiction in the state consists mostly of middle class, working class, and upper middle class citizens. Staten Island currently leads the city in the number of heroin related deaths, totaling seventy three in 2012, many of which are individuals from the younger generation and in their twenties.

This video was extremely riveting and eye-opening. I learned the about the dire straits our country is saddled with concerning the heroin epidemic. I was surprised to know that overdoses from heroin saw a 164% increase in West Virginia. The death toll doubled from 2011 through 2013. There was 94% spike in Hampton Roads and 50% increase in Richmond. The familiar culprit in the vast majority of these cases is the gateway provided by prescription opiates. With current national and state laws becoming more stringent, opiate users that have become addicted most often turn to heroin. The video chronicled various horror stories of young promising lives wrecked, derailed, and destroyed by heroin addiction spiraled out of control.

Reachers say that prior to 1980, whites and nonwhites were equally represented among first-time heroin users. However, now nearly 90 percent of the people who tried heron for the first time in the past decade were white. And a growing number of them are middle-class or wealthy. The image of needle using inter-city junkies is no longer the case, these “new users” are our suburban neighbors, sons, daughters, fathers and mothers. Most opioid users first try pills from the family medicine cabinet. The pill bottles that all of us keep around long after what they were originally prescribed for has been forgotten. Law enforcement, specifically local law enforcement needs to be at the forefront of programs to combat the rising use of opiates.

The method of heroin intake changed in the 1990’s from a method of injection which was use back in the 1970’s to a method of smoking or snorting. Furthermore, the heroin was made purer and cheaper as compared to the prior years. Nowadays, the rate of heroin consumption is highly increased among men and women. The CDC states that the use of heroin is doubled among the ages of 18 to 25 and there has also been an increase in the rate of heroin-related overdose deaths which have nearly quadrupled between 2002 and 2013 (CDC, 2015). People who are addicted to opioid painkillers might be able to become addicted to heroin which is also used as a depressant. Contributing factors to heroin use that lead among young adults are struggles with behavior,

This paper will examine the impact of heroin addiction on the family, the individual, the child, the adult, older adults, special populations, on minorities, while taking in consideration various approaches in assessments, treatment recommendations, and ethical concerns.

Heroin is an illegal drug that is very addictive. Heroin impacts many people around the world. Millions of people use the drug and cannot overcome the urge to use it. Heroin is usually white but it could also be brown or black. Heroin can be smoked, sniffed but in most cases, injected. ("Heroin: What is it?”)

Heroin was once a low-profile drug, addicts were strictly impoverished, or they were uneducated merely following in their addicted parents footsteps. However, heroin trends have changed once wholesome people are now addicts. Today you find the former valedictorian of your graduating class,the loving father of your childhood best friend, or worse your own mother falling into the terrible trend. Addicts now are from all social classes, races, education levels, and professions. Heroin is so abundant that entire towns are swallowed by this monster, forcing good hard-working people to transform into homeless, dope fiends. This epidemic shatters the past image of heroin addicts. In 2013, one hundred people a day died of heroin overdoses:today the

Young people whose parents were drug abusers are far more like to abuse drugs themselves (“Societal Causes of Addiction, n.d.). This is because they have been exposed to the idea of it for a prolonged time. Societal pressures can affect persons of any age. Communities are lacking efficient drug prevention and intervention programs that play a key role in informing the youth about substance abuse. While the youth might be taking drugs to try to fit in with what they believe to be social norms, some adults take drugs to alleviate stress. This stress can be caused by many reasons. Some are stressed because of school or work while others are stressed because they feel excluded from society. Poverty stricken and unemployed environments can also lead to a higher vulnerability to drug abuse. People within these environments feel excluded from society and this can fuel one’s reliance on drugs and further fuel their addiction. Another environmental cause for the rise of heroin use especially in the suburbs is how common the drugs have gotten. Heroin is being mass produced in other countries and then smuggled into the United States (Manchikanti and Singh, 2008). When the drugs are being distributed within the country they are being sold mixed with other substances, this allowing for more heroin to be available.