The Heroin Epidemic Of America

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.

Heroin, a white powder, was created in 1874, and was sold as a safe substitute for morphine. However, it was discovered that heroin produced a quick dependency in people. Heroin and other opiates were made illegal in 1920 as part of the Dangerous Drugs Act. Still today, however, Heroin is illegally manufactured and imported, largely from the Indian sub-continent.

Mothers and nurses were giving children heroin-filled soothing syrups to treat a cold, or simply to “soothe” them to sleep. The journalist said, “the systematic doping of the delicate organisms of infants with these subtle and powerful drugs [was] practiced everywhere remorselessly or in desperate ignorance of its consequences.” The involvement of innocent children in the drug problem evokes a sense of urgency; however, the article does not just appeal to the reader’s emotions. Rather it is substantive, providing insight about what was happening in politics and medicine at the time. There was an attempt to investigate and try to regulate the medical use of opiates and other questionable drugs. The author cited an investigation by the Division of Drugs in the Bureau of Chemistry that found that soothing syrups often contained drugs such as powdered opium, chloroform, codeine, and cannabis, in combination or in place of heroin. It also referenced the action taken by pharmacists in Philadelphia to only sell these habit-forming “remedies” with a doctor’s approval or prescription. When looking at this article in a broad sense, one can see the change in mindset by medical authorities--which only ten years prior saw heroin as a great innovation in medicine.

Heroin was initially created by Charles Wright in 1874 to combat Morphine addiction amongst Civil War soldiers. The commercial production of heroin began in 1898, by the Bayer Pharmaceutical Company, and their “sales pitch” persuaded people that Heroin was a “safe, non-addictive” substitute for morphine, therefore, gaining popularity amongst healthcare professionals and their morphine addicted patients. As a result, numerous

The roots of methadone were founded in Germany. In the 1930s, a team of German scientists produced the chemical structure of methadone, while searching for a pain-killing drug that would be less addictive than the commonly used pain medication morphine (University of Maryland, 2013, para. 2). Methadone was introduced to the United States in 1947 as a pain reliever for a variety of medical conditions (University of Maryland, 2013, para. 2). Shortly after the introduction of methadone into the United States, “Intravenous abuse of heroin intensified in New York City after World War II, and by the 1950s and 1960s, reached epidemic proportions” (Joseph, Stancliff, & Landgord, 2000, p. 347). The New York City death rate associated with injection

Correspondingly, pharmaceutical opioids are not the only narcotics consumers can get their hands on. It is said that heroin, an illegal but natural opiate, “... scheduled 1 controlled substance in the United States…” (AmericanAddictionCenters) Taking heroin puts consumers at a high risk for addiction and abuse. Although heroin is a very dangerous drug it does dull pain, impair cognition and the senses, increase sedation, and slow functions of central nervous system. It is stated that “... heroin is the fastest-acting opiate.” (AmericanAddictionCenters). Heroin is described as a brown, or white powder or sticky substance that may be snorted, smoked, or injected, giving consumers a sense of “rush” or “high” that comes very rapid and very intense. Due to the fact that prescription opioids are becoming more expensive and less accessible many people turn to heroin, a much cheaper opiate. Not to mention, but three out four consumers who first started off by taking prescription medication who then became abusive of them now look towards the “high” of heroin. It's no coincidence that opioids, illegal or not can cause severe damage to the consumer that may even lead to deaths due to overdose. Above all, “heroin and other opioid drugs interact with the dopamine levels in the brain,which is what causes the burst of pleasure associated with their use.” (AmericanAddictionCenters) Clearly the abuse of any drug leads to drug tolerance, dependence, and last but foremost addiction.

IHR 4 matter of 16 years the Heroin epidemic in the US was so great that the “Harrison Act” was passed in the 1914 making it and other narcotics illegal” (Kerr, D. 2008).

During his research, Quinones documents the origin of opiate use within the United States in three areas: drug cartels, overprescription from medical practitioners, and the pharmaceutical companies. He claims that illegal use spurred from drug cartels when he notes, “... heroin in Denver originated in one small town in Mexico… a town called Xalisco” (43). However, even though opioids were common in the black market, the drug cartels were not the sole culprits of increasing the risk of addiction. Many Americans used the drugs for medicinal reasons. In a town named Portsmouth, people grew increasingly dependent on opiates during the 90s: “In this part of the country, anything that relieved pain was welcome. But opiates … quickly led to addiction” (Quinones 26). People that were just looking for some treatment soon had a deadlier problem on their hands— addiction. Since the public was looking for a solution for pain, the pharmaceutical companies were hungry to promote opioids for pain management. The industry, according to Quinones, was just starting to produce the deadly drug, and wanted the public to use its

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.

The history of opioids in America provides a reoccurring theme riddled with misuse, abuse, and addiction. One could even go as far as to call it a timeless theme, as the same problems that affected the past still stand steadfast today. It all started in 1806 with the isolation of Morphine by chemist Friedrich Sertürner (Acock, 1993). Soon after its creation, this analgesic opiate became the primary treatment in the United States for various medical ailments including pain, anxiety, and respiratory problems (Acock, 1993). Acock (1993) reveals that opioids were widely used during the Civil War, with numbers reaching up to ten million opioid pills for the Union Army alone. Morphine was essentially the cure-all on the battlefield. The result

Injured veterans in the mid-1800s would become hooked because they were treated with morphine to help dull the pain of early medical procedures. The Bayer Co., manufacturers of the household brand Bayer aspirin, started producing heroin in 1898, and the effects were so immediate that it was considered a cure-all medicine. It was rushed to shelves. Heroin use spread greatly in popularity during the following decades. Back in the days of early pharmaceuticals, there wasn’t much of an option regarding effective pain management. The drug’s effects seemed too good to be true. It was used to treat everything from headaches to muscle spasms to heavy

The earliest form of painkillers was first created in the 16th century where people used laudanum or opium prepared in alcoholic solution as pain relivers. In the early 19th century, people extracted morphine from old opium poppy plants and this form of painkiller was most commonly used in the American Civil War. As Morphine was found to be very addictive, chemists in the 1870s produced heroin that did not turn out to be a success as it was proved to be more addictive than morphine. Many other synthetic opiates such as Vicodin, OxyContin, Percocet were produced respectively in 1984, 1995 and 1999. However, these synthetic opiates could only be given if prescribed by a doctor as they could also be addictive. There were also other options of

Opium use during the 17th and 18th century the use of opiates was positive and no one saw the harmful effects it could bring. Morphine, heroin, and oxycontin were widely used for helping with pain. In the turn of the 19th century people were having concerns of the side effects of these opiate drugs as well as the health risks that these drugs were bringing about. These drugs were highly addictive and once people were hooked onto the opiate it was very hard to get them off and this was leading to deaths and this was scaring people. Eventually in the 20th century the government saw the risks involved with legal drug use and they started putting regulation over the opiates. They would make the drugs illegal and if people were caught using they

The use of heroin and morphine grew like wildfire after the successive extraction of morphine from the opium poppy around 200 years ago in Germany. The drug was the main painkiller and an excellent treatment for injuries. Bayer introduced heroin later 1874 and started distributing it commercially in 1898 (Courtwright & Joseph, 1989). Heroin came from morphine extracts and was up to two times stronger than morphine. Early chemists thought that morphine was appropriate for effective treatment for alcohol and cocaine addiction, but eventually found out that it was more addictive than the two. The use of the drug during the Civil War as a stimulant and painkiller resulted to too many soldier addicts even at the end of the war. The soldiers spread the use of morphine and heroin to their neighborhoods until addiction to the drugs became a crisis (Joseph & Dole, 1970).

Codeine, morphine, and vicodin are some prescription drugs that one may hear of for treating pain. What some people do not know is that in the early 20th century, these drugs were very harmful because they were being made into others much worse. Many of these drugs come from the same types of places and plants and are also made in a similar way. Cocaine, morphine, and heroin started to be produced just as often as the first opioid based prescription drugs and the only difference is that these were much more addictive and dangerous. The introduction of drugs in America caused a serious problem in the early 20th century that spread like a wildfire. As these drugs began to worsen, President Nixon formed the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to combat these lethal drugs, as well as the gangs and cartels distributing them.