April/May 2014
Page 9
The Heroin Epidemic
Drug Addiction on the rise says National Survey
Matthew Burbine
Staff Writer
Heroin. This dangerous drug has made
recent headlines because of the recent
overdose of the famous actor, Phillip
Seymour Hoffman. What they may not
realize is that, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health,
the number of people who have become addicted to heroin has increased
60 percent in the last 10 years. Here in
Massachusetts, the Boston Globe reports that over 185 people have died
from heroin overdoses since November 1, 2013 alone, including at least 20
people in Plymouth County. In recognition of this heroin problem, on March
27 Governor Patrick declared a public
health emergency.
Heroin is an opioid drug made from
morphine, a powerful painkiller
which comes from the Asian opium
poppy plant. Heroin is usually in the
form of a white powder, a brown powder, or a black sticky substance. Heroin
can be snorted, injected with a needle,
or smoked. At first, heroin gives users a
―rush of good feelings. But then users
can feel sick to their stomachs and itchy
and can have trouble breathing as heroin slows down their heart rates and
their breathing rates. They can even go
into a coma and die. Heroin is a highly
addictive drug and as a person takes
more of the drug, the high may not be
as strong. This leads the user to take
more and more heroin to feel the high
making a user more likely to overdose.
For more information the National
Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) for
Teens has a wealth of knowledge on
the subject.
According to the United States Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration‘s 2013 National Drugs
Threat Assessment Summary, some
heroin users first became addicted to
prescription painkillers. According to
this report, heroin use will likely continue to spread because heroin is
cheaper and more easily obtained than
prescription drugs and produces similar
effects. The report also states that
heroin purity and dosage amounts can
vary, and users do not know what substances the heroin may have been cut
with. This puts users more at risk of an
accidental overdose.
Heroin addiction is not just hurting
addicts and their families. It hurts
society as a whole. According to
Steven Kassels, M.D., in an Op-Ed
piece for the Boston Globe, when
viewing the costs of heroin addiction
in terms of law enforcement, increased crime, court costs, incarceration, emergency room visits,
hospitalizations, lost job productivity,
and workers‘ compensation, the
national annual cost is over $180
billion dollars. Dr. Kassels estimates The needle and the
that in order to treat one drug adspoon. Britannica
dict in Massachusetts, including counseling, random drug testing, medical
“Heroin
examinations, and testing for diseases that can be spread from sharaddiction is not
ing needles (like HIV or hepatitis C),
the cost is about $5,000 per year. If just hurting
someone is placed in a halfway
house, it can cost $20,000 per year, addicts and their
while incarceration can cost $50,000
per year. The heroin epidemic in the families. It hurts
United States must be controlled and society”—
national and state governments need
to work together to raise awarene