What Is The Rise Of Heroin

Opioids are taking over the United States with its addictive composition, once patients are take opioids there is no escaping. The drug directed from opium which is obtained from a plant (Katz). Opioids are most commonly found in prescription pill from making underground sales more common. Since opioids are derived from a plant this makes the reality of home grown drugs more of an issue. American citizens overdosing on opioids is what is sparking the crisis because opioid “overdoses killed more people last year than guns or car accidents” (Katz). Opioids are extremely addictive and that is why so many citizens overdose on these types of drugs. After patients become hooked on opioids their body constantly is needing more and more opium to escape they pain they think they are enduring. The overdosing of Americans is not a small percentage of the population either, it is estimated that “over two million people in America have problem with opioids” proving this growing issue is an ongoing crisis (Katz). The United States government needs to take action immediately to the opioid crisis because doctors are overprescribing patients because they seemingly overreact to pain, and opioids are one of the most addictive drug types in the world.

In Nolan and Amico’s article, “How Bad is the Opioid Epidemic?” they argue the opioid epidemic has become the worst drug crisis in American history. Heroin and other opioids overdose kill more than 47,055 people a year. Deaths caused from drug overdose has outnumber as much as 40 percent compared to the death caused from car crashes in 2014 (Nolan and Amico 3). Furthermore, in 1999 there were only 15000 people died from drug overdose. This number has tripled in 15 years. Also, in his article, “America’s Addiction to Opioids: Heroin and Prescription Drug Abuse” Volkow also presents the fact that “with an estimated 2.1 million people in the United States suffering from substance use disorders related to prescription opioid pain relievers in 2012 and an estimated 467,000 addicted to heroin. The consequences of this abuse have been devastating and are on the rise. For example, the number of unintentional overdose deaths from prescription pain relievers has

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

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.

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

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.

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

New government data demonstrate the continued, urgent need for more Americans to have access to drug and alcohol addiction treatment, according to an analysis by the Closing the Addiction Treatment Gap (CATG) initiative. If implemented properly, federal health care reform legislation could help remove financial barriers to treatment for millions of Americans. *

The United States is not immune to the worldwide drug addiction epidemic. Drugs pour in from Mexico daily, then distributed to throughout the country. The economic crisis in America is creating an excuse for drug use (e.g., depression, hopelessness). This chemical fix not only creates problems for the addict, but the family and community as well. Every addict has an enabler, a person who makes the addiction possible through various venues of support (e.g., financial, denial). Addicts are only concerned with their next fix and will resort to any means to obtain it (e.g., theft, prostitution, pan-handling). Some have even resorted to extremely desperate measures; for example, murder for inheritance or life insurance proceeds.

I am writing to you, as to express my concern about the heroin abuse issue. According to a National Institute of Drug Abuse 2013 statistic, it states about 24.4million Americans including teens from age of 12 had used heroin in their daily life and this number is expected to be increased tremendously every year. Heroin has been invented only to be used in medical sector such as to relieve pain, but people nowadays have misused the usage of heroin by taking it without recommendation from the expert and some of them consume it in overdose amount. It seems to me that heroin abuse is a serious national problem, which does not only impact the drug user’s life, but the whole society as well as economy welfare. It can alter the function of the addicts’ brains, affect their reputation on careers’ performances, ruin their relationship with the loved ones and can result in a shorten life because of severe health disease. In addition to that, the crime rates will be increased, as they can act aggressively under the influence of heroin, which means they can commit violence without consciousness and they are willing to do anything such as rob or kill people, just to satisfy their need. This situation can get worse, as it can retard the economic growth of United States because the investors from other countries will not invest in a state, which has high social problems. In order to curb this menace, I would like to suggest that you as

According to the DEA’s acting administrator, Paul Rosenberg, approximately 120 people die each day in the United States of a drug overdose. Lives are being recklessly spent because of the strict drug enforcement laws and social stigma surrounding addiction and addition-related crime. Law enforcement is losing the battle because every time they take down one king pin, another pops up. Addicts are quickly losing the war of addiction because they feel the need to isolate, going anywhere near a hospital during an overdose can result in jail time, and there is no guarantee that their next hit won’t be their last. The only efforts that have been put into place is locking people up or sending them away to rehabilitation centers. Government officials, addicts, and “normal” people who turn against drugs and addiction may not realize that legalizing heroin could be a turning point for society. It is truly an important matter because we are letting our community die, perpetuating drug-related illnesses, and destroying lives through death or an unjust legal system made up of for-profit prisons and jail time for addiction. America should remove heroin from the schedule I drug classification and move towards decriminalization.

Drug use in America is one of the major issues we face and the problem has skyrocketed over the past three decades. Heroin and painkiller addictions exceed all other countries. It is important that we address some of the causes that lead to the abuse, how to treat the abuse, and how to prevent the distribution of illegal prescription drugs.

It’s easy to lose track of the chaos that happens in the world on a day to day basis when your main priority is deciding what to eat for lunch tomorrow, or even dreading your next shift; yet we can turn on the news and hear about the most recent overdose and not even blink an eye. The blatant disregard for drug addicts today is at an ultimate high. In the past two years alone, more people have died from opiate addiction than they have in the entire Vietnam War. The fact that drug users are seen as lower class members of society as only aided in the increase of addiction and death, killing more Americans than HIV/AIDS did at its peak. Though the epidemic did not occur overnight, it has recently become one of America’s biggest health confrontations. Although there is no absolute solution, in order to decelerate the prevailing wave of usage and overdose/death, decriminalization in correlation to government funded programs could give ease to the definition of the word “epidemic”.