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 .
Photo Source : aboutheroin . com
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 .
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
26 | Illinois Winter 2014 | abusemagazine . org
Source : www . adolescent-substance-abuse . com / substance-abuse / thenew-faces-of-heroin-addiction-teen-use-on-the-rise . htm