HEROIN ADDICTION
The New Faces of
Heroin Addiction
Teen Use on the Rise
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By Anne Watkins
Over the past few years, experts and law enforcement officials have noticed a disturbing trend: While heroin use in general has leveled off or even declined in most areas, there has been a dramatic spike in teenage heroin use.
There are many causes for this trend, which has been seen in New York, Illinois, Alabama and Oregon, but experts agree that it’ s closely associated with the easy accessibility of prescription opioid painkillers as well as the decline in the adult heroin market.
For teenagers who are addicted to heroin, there are many heroin treatment options available, including methadone or suboxone detox and rehab programs. Because heroin users gain tolerance to the drug so rapidly, it’ s important to recognize the problem and seek heroin treatment as early as possible. This presents unique difficulties for teenage heroin users, who may be afraid to be honest with their parents about their problem until it’ s too late.
Causes of the Trend
With the recent proliferation of prescription opioid painkillers, opiate use has become far more domesticated and widespread than ever before. Because of drugs like Oxycontin and Vicodin, more people are familiar with the effects of opioid medications, which, by extension, makes heroin seem less scary and not so exotic.
Many people, including teenagers, no longer associate heroin with the horror stories of overdose and crippling addiction. Instead, they associate it more and more with those relatively safe and familiar prescription drugs. The result is that, for young people especially, prescription opioids can act as gateway drugs to heroin.
Photo Source: aboutheroin. com
Compounding this problem is the fact that heroin is often far cheaper than its prescription counterparts. A single pill of Vicodin or Oxycontin can be anywhere from $ 40 to $ 75, while a small bag of heroin may cost less than a six pack of beer and achieve the same high. So, for anyone already addicted to prescription opioids, cheap, accessible heroin may seem like a much better deal.
While people in their late 20s, 30s or older may remember alcohol and marijuana as being the drugs of choice for teenagers, things have changed. Heroin is no longer thought of as some inaccessible drug mostly used by grown-up junkies in big cities. These days, people in their teens and early 20s are being targeted as the next big market for a drug that has long been in decline among adult populations. In some places, teens report that heroin is even more accessible than marijuana, ecstasy and alcohol.
36 | Iowa Fall / Winter 2013-2014 | abusemagazine. org
Source: www. adolescent-substance-abuse. com / substance-abuse / thenew-faces-of-heroin-addiction-teen-use-on-the-rise. htm