We Are Addicted And Our Thoughts Essay

In 1980’s Scotland, socioeconomic conditions and morale suffered due to the implementation of Thatcher policies, placing the lower class in a deplorable state of hopelessness. The film Trainspotting, directed by Danny Boyle, depicts the plights of young heroin junkies during the Thatcher Era in Edinburgh. The film’s focus is not heroin addiction, but rather, uses the silver screen as a platform to portray the depressing impact Thatcherism had on Scottish socioeconomic conditions as conveyed through the protagonist, heroin-addicted Mark Renton. Trainspotting illustrates that the social struggles of the Scottish lower class during the Thatcher Era are significant contributing factors to cause Renton to become a heroin user in order to escape the depressing and monotonous existence to which he is subjected.

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.

Chapter 3, “A Community of Addicted Bodies”, traces how physical and emotional dependence on heroin creates a social hierarchy within the

Many people believe the misconception that an addiction is a moral problem and not a disease. To better understand the reasons why an additicition is in fact a disease; I will identify several types of addictions, and the problems associated with them. I will examine reasons why certain people are more susceptible for developing an addiction. Also, I will determine why many addicts deny their problems and many recovery methods addicts use to fight their illness. Researching these issues, will help aid my claim that addiction is a disease.

Depending on the source, some would term the heroin and opioid problem in the United States a crisis, while others would use the word epidemic. Regardless of which expression is more accurate, the situation regarding heroin and opioid use, abuse and dependence has ignited national, if not global concern. History shows us that pervasive dilemmas have a tendency to cultivate a variety of intervention and the heroin and opioid crisis is no different.

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 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.

Written with the purpose to inform its audience about the very real and very serious Heroin epidemic spreading through our country, using expert storytelling and exhaustive detail, Quinones chronicles the perfect storm of circumstances that cleared the way for Heroin to infiltrate our communities over the last two decades. His story centers on Portsmouth, Ohio, home to the nation’s first pill mill*. Following the release of OxyContin in 1996, corrupt physicians seized the opportunity to get rich quick. Addicts traveled to pain clinics by the carload, bearing forged MRIs and false complaints of pain, sometimes trading sexual favors for pills. Soon, Portsmouth had more pills per capita than any other city. “If you see lines of people

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.

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

big cities just to get heroin. Suburban teens’ desire for a more powerful high has allowed

The non-fictional novel The Addict offers a current perspective through the author’s eyes, Michael Stein, into the trials and tribulations that one has to go through when being an opiate addict. The processes that addicts go through becomes instantly examinable, offering insight into how individuals become addicted and what they go through while trying to become rehabilitated. Lucy Fields is the main patient described by Michael Stein in this book. Lucy is addicted to Vicodin and has been addicted for a number of years. Despite many social stigmas associated around addicts, becoming addicted to anything does not happen in a short amount of time. The context in which a person is living, their socioeconomic status, their social support and perceived social support are all factors in becoming addicted or rehabilitated. Throughout the book Michael Stein speaks about multiple patients and refers to buprenorphine as the primary prescribed drug for opiate users, he also refers to methadone treatment. The effectiveness of buprenorphine was shown through the book and how it is, with the help of adequate social and medical support, a viable option with regards to treating opiate addiction.

The public rarely pays close attention to homeless people on the streets. There is one kind of homelessness that have dedicated their lives to heroin; these people call themselves “righteous dopefiends”. Philippe Bourgois and Jeff Schonberg became part of the daily lives of these homeless heroin injectors for a 10-year period in Edgewater Boulevard. Through various interviews with the addicts, we came to find out their shocking personal histories that led to their addiction and homelessness. These Edgewater homeless came from different ethnic backgrounds, however, they shared two common things; all of them were homeless and were addicted to heroin. They lived in dead-end alleyways, storage lots, vacant factories, defective cars, and highway embankments (4). The reason they labelled themselves as righteous dopefiends was because believed they were worthy in society, despite their actions. Going through ceaseless pain and anxiety of hunger, exposure, infectious diseases was reasonable to them because of their commitment to heroin (5). Throughout my paper, it will show that medication has an important implication in the lives of the homeless heroin injectors.

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

“Addiction is a brain disease expressed in the form of compulsive behavior,” says by Alan Leshner in his article, “Addiction Is a Brain Disease” featured in the book Drug Abuse: Opposing Viewpoints. Addiction has a variety of meanings depending on what your viewpoint of addiction. According to dictionary.com, the concrete definition of the word addiction is, “the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.” Basically various doctors and therapist consider addiction to be a genetic disorder. “Provocative, controversial, unquestionably incomplete, the dopamine hypothesis provides a basic framework