Informative Speech Outline On Heroin

Analysis: According to the Center for Disease Control, in Florida, there was over 3,200 deaths from opioid overdoses, and opioids account for the most overdose deaths in the United States (“Opioid Overdose,” 2016).

In the United States alone, there are 1.2 million people who are using heroin. 600,000 of those users are addicted to heroin and use 150 to 250 milligrams on a daily basis. 700,000 Americans are needing treatment but are not receiving it. Heroin is more deadly than car accidents. From 2001 to 2014 there was a five-hundred percent increase in the total number of deaths. Although injection of the drug has declined, smoking has increased because the cost of clean needles has gone up and to newer users it is easier. While the popularity of Heroin in the United States of America has grown, Florida and California have the most heroin seized by law enforcement. Diacetylmorphine was first synthesized in 1874 by C. R. Wright. an English chemist working at St. Mary 's Hospital Medical School in London. He had been experimenting with combining morphine with various acids and sent it off to be analyzed.

Society today has been clouded and somewhat overtaken by social drugs. Wherever you may look, a drug is being used, whether it is more commonly a cigarette being smoked on the street, or the covert teens smoking marijuana in secluded areas. In any case, there is not one person who can say drug use is not prevalent, since society has made it clear through news, music and everyday life. However, there are certain drugs that seem to be worse than others, and society once again has taught us that through our laws and restrictions. The worse the drug, the more you pay for having it. Basically, drugs have become a part of our life, and you never know when they can land on your doorstep.

A huge epidemic that is obtaining a lot of attention from Congress and medical professionals across the county is the spiking heroin overdoses that are rising at alarming rates. (Krisberg, 2014). My question to everyone that is researching this topic is this:

As previously discussed, the program the author would choose to evaluate is MAT treatment programs. This population consists of individuals that have been diagnosed with opiate use disorder, and receive opiate-substitution medications, such as Methadone or Suboxone. These program evaluations would be consumer-centered, performed in the clinics they receive services. Interested stakeholders would include the treatment center where the participants receive services, as well as other MAT service providers. Additionally, the funding sources for these individuals and program centers, such as county, state, and federal agencies, along with medical insurers, would also gain value from the program evaluation research.

There are a variety of treatment modalities, both conservative and emerging, that clinicians, therapists, and doctors use to treat heroin and opioid dependence. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), motivational interviewing (MI), 12 step programs, and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) are just a few that have been used in the past, and even today, in the treatment of substance dependence. Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is yet another form of therapy; particularly for opioid and heroin dependence, that has been around for decades. However, it has recently begun to spark interest and controversy in light of the growing epidemic.

In October of 2002, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of Suboxone for the treatment in the United States of opiate addiction (Mintzer, 2007). It is a medication-assisted treatment; however it “does not require participation in a highly-regulated federal program such as a methadone clinic” (Stuckert, 2013). It does not cause the high or euphoria feeling associated with opiate dependency. In fact many patients that have taken the treatment have said that they have felt little more than having more energy and no real high at all (Thompson-Gargano, 2004).

Heroin overdoses, have become a bigger issue over the last few years. Heroin is made from morphine, which itself is a very powerful and addictive drug. In an article on nlm.nih.gov they found that around .6% of people between the ages of 15-64 use heroin. About 23 percent of people who use the drug become dependent on it. Overdoses frequently involve suppression

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.

3. Ways for physiciaisn patients and pharamasists to all play a role in identidying and preventing prescription drug abuse.

Combing medication with counseling and behavior therapy to treat substance abuse is Medication-Assisted Therapy (MAT). It provides an “all-around” treatment approach and research shows that this treatment approach can be very successful in treating people with addictions. The treatment is mainly used for the addiction of opioids and prescription pain relievers that contain opiates. All the medications used for this therapy is required to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration and if mixed with certain medications, can be fatal. MAT can be helpful for an addict going through recovery.

A study was conducted in England, where they have a few Heroin addicts that take oral Methadone however, at no prevail, they still wind up taking the street drug Heroin. Thus they used randomization and gave a few addicts supervised injectable Heroin, injectable Methadone, and normal oral Methadone. The findings were shocking the traditional form of treatment for Heroin addicts was not actually working too well. The amount of addicts that were on the injectable Heroin they were more likely to stay with the treatment. The group of addicts that was in the injectable Methadone group showed no significant difference than the traditional treatment of oral Methadone. They came to the conclusion that the injectable Heroin was more fitting than the Methadone and helps the addicts stay off of the street Heroin. (Strang

Methadone clinics can be another solution to combat the ever growing heroin epidemic. Methadone is very similar to heroin as it provides the same high, but it blocks the brains reward receptors that are effected by heroin. This allows the user to detox slowly without little withdrawal symptoms that accompany it, rather than a dreadful recovery. The goal is to relieve heorin addict’s cravings and desire for heroin in a safe, legal manner. Addicts are only able to attain Methadone and have use of the clinics by having a prescription. Methadone has been around and proven to be affective since the 1960s, but only recently have clinics come into practice. There has been a rise of Methadone clinics popping up in neighborhoods where there are high

“In 2002, 404,000 people used heroin in the United States. By 2016, there were 948,000 people. This is a 135% increases in the past 14 years” (Kounang). I decided to research about heroin, because I want to know what heroin is and which celebrities have done it and survived or died. I knew it was an addictive drug that many people overdose on. There was a lot of misconceptions that I had about heroin. Originally I thought heroin users become addicted instantly. I still have some questions about heroin. Why is heroin so popular? Who has done it? Even though some people think heroin is not bad, people should not take heroin because it's a highly effective drug and tons of people are dying from overdosing.

The average small town does not seem like the epicenter of a heroin epidemic. In 2014, there were more than 47,000 drug overdose deaths in the country. More than half of these deaths were from opioids like heroin and painkillers.