Heroin Use And Addiction Has Historically Been A Problem

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.

Many people may not realize this but multiple states, including Michigan, are facing an epidemic. It is not a disease, however, it is a heroin epidemic. In a country where addictive opioid pain-killer prescriptions are handed out like candy, it not surprising heroin, also known as smack or thunder, has become a serious problem. The current heroin epidemic Michigan is facing, as are dozens of other states, has spiraled out of control in recent years. In Michigan, some of the areas hit hardest by this drug are in the southern portion of the state, like Wayne, Oakland, and Monroe Counties. The connection between painkillers and heroin may not be clear, but this is because both are classified as opioid drugs, and therefore cause many of the same positive and negative side effects. As a country, we are currently the largest consumer of opioids in the world; almost the entire world supply of hydrocodone (the opioid in Vicodin) and 81% of the world’s oxycodone (in Percocet and OxyContin) is used by the United States (Volkow). Along with consuming most of the world’s most common opioids, we have gone from 76 million of these prescriptions in 1991 to 207 million in 2013 – constantly increasing except for a small decrease starting in 2012 (Volkow). This widespread use has caused numerous consequences from increasing emergency room visits – for both painkillers and heroin – to sky-rocking overdose cases all over the country (Volkow). Michigan, unfortunately, currently has one of the

The United States currently faces an unprecedented epidemic of opioid addiction. This includes painkillers, heroin, and other drugs made from the same base chemical. In the couple of years, approximately one out of twenty Americans reported misuse or abuse of prescriptions painkillers. Heroin abuse and overdoses are on the rise and are the leading cause of injury deaths, surpassing car accidents and gun shots. The current problem differs from the opioid addiction outbreaks of the past in that it is also predominant in the middle and affluent classes. Ultimately, anyone can be fighting a battle with addiction and it is important for family members and loved ones to know the signs. The cause for this epidemic is that the current spike of opioid abuse can be traced to two decades of increased prescription rates for painkillers by well-meaning physicians.

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

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

A heroin overdose is generally a familiar, yet taboo, subject in today’s culture. It is familiar because one can witness the drug’s devastating effects like crime, imprisonment, and death within their community. It is taboo because it is culturally unacceptable and embarrassing to use an illegal product. Heroin overdoses have become a huge epidemic in Northwest Ohio, due in large part, to a misinformed culture, an influx of pain management programs, mixed drug toxicity, and a user’s desire to abuse laced heroin. With doctors, scientists, and researchers desperately searching for an answer to why heroin addiction is so prevalent, our community can find relief by being properly informed on

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.

Many individuals in the United States that abuse opioid drugs have risk factors that have shown an association of risk factors that influenced these behaviors. One being, those whose parents were drug-user or suffered from mental health illnesses, child abuse and maltreatment, and had poor supervision (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2015). Also, communities with high violence and poverty rates show an increased risk of opioid abuse (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2015). Lastly, social norms and laws favorable to opioid use, as well as racism, and lack of economic opportunity are also very influential in the abuse of opioids (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2015).

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.

What does drug addiction mean to you? Did you know nearly 90 percent of first time heroin users in the past decade were white, middle-class, or wealthy people? Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found significant increases in heroin use were found in groups with historically low rates of heroin use, including women and people with private insurance and higher incomes. Heroin deaths have surged mostly among caucasians in the suburbs and small towns.

Heroin users and overdose deaths are on the rise. Especially among young middle-class white citizens (Seelye, 2015). Why is the amount of heroin users rising and how is the government handling this epidemic? There is a strong correlation between the increase of prescription painkillers and the amount of heroin users. “People who are dependent on prescription opioids are 40 times more likely to abuse or be dependent on heroin” (Seelye, 2015). One of the main reason there has been a recent increase of heroin users in the last decade is because there has also been an increase of prescription opioids such as OxyContin. And the government has never tested a way to stop the increase of drug users other than harsh

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 rise of heroin use in the United States can be mostly attributed to more young adults between the ages of 18-25 using the drug. Data from NSDUH revealed heroin initiation rates by young adults during the years 2002 through 2011 was nearly two to seven times higher than the initiation rates in people were between the ages of 12-17, as well as older adults who were between the ages of 26-49 (Muhuri, Gfroerer, & Davies, 2013). Additionally, in 2013, young adults had the highest rates of