Addiction has been going around for a very long time but today drug use has become more popular than ever. According to Aaron Cooper’s CNN article Study: 22 Million Americans use illegal drugs, “More than 22 million Americans age 12 and older - nearly 9% of the U.S. population - use illegal drugs, according to the government’s 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.” Once you become addicted it becomes very hard to stop, and others do not want to stop or feel they cannot. Many people believe that providing drug users with free disposable needles could help prevent the spread of AIDS and ultimately prevent countless drug related deaths. Although this is an extremely controversial idea it is still something that should be explored more in depth. In Pro & Con: Free Needles for Addicts, to Help Curb AIDS? Bruce Lambert discusses the debate on giving drug addicts free needles. Lambert goes on to say, “AIDS has spread more rapidly among intravenous drug users than any other group. Sample tests show that more than half the city's estimated 200,000 addicts are infected with the vir...
It has been said that addiction is the plague of the 21st century. In an age of unprecedented life expectancy and medical breakthroughs, people are dying from both disease and overdose that are self inflicted and the cure is currently out of reach. Implementing progressive ideas such as safe injection sites have been a battle, both for caring social workers and front line emergency workers looking to minimize the health risks associated with risk taking behaviors that inevitably occur with intravenous drug use. While the addicted population currently uses considerable government funding by way of shelter services as well as prison and jail time, safe injection sites are a necessary step in the battle against drug abuse as is a major prevention
By providing clean needles to drug addicts, are we causing another issue such as increased drug
Perhaps one of the most pressing concerns is health and the assumption that to a certain degree criminalization is justified by preserving health. Illicit drugs are, in reality, not as hazardous to public health as accustomed views present- particularly in relation to certain recreational activities that are legal. Of the 25,000 illegal drug use-induced fatalities the National Institute on Drug Abuse has brought to light, the majority is more correctly due to drug prohibition than consumption. Also, some 14,300 of the casualties are a result of diseases like AIDS, transferred (generally) because of contaminated drug injection needles. Needle exchange programs for sterile needles are encouraged by the World Health Organization, amongst many other international organizations, as it is considered as possibly the greatest innovation for the health improvement of users. However, the federal government disallows the appropriation of its funds to these programs because the possession and sale of syringes still remain largely illegal. Furthermore, - as I explain later on- between the sellers and producers, there is no real confidence in the contents and hence, dangerousness of a given street drug. Considering the already growing level of consumption, imagine the gains of, for example, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) supervising illicit drugs, parallel to their work on food and
The documentary states that over 27,000 deaths a year are due to overdose from heroin and other opioids. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2015 prescription pain relievers account for 20,101 overdose deaths, and 12,990 overdose deaths are related to heroin (Rudd et al., 2010-2015). The documentary’s investigation gives the history of how the heroin epidemic started, with a great focus on the hospice movement. We are presented with the idea that once someone is addicted to painkillers, the difficulty in obtaining the drug over a long period of time becomes too expensive and too difficult. This often leads people to use heroin. This idea is true as a 2014 survey found that 94% of respondents who were being treated for opioid addiction said they chose to use heroin because prescription opioids were “more expensive and harder to obtain (Cicero et al., 2014).” Four in five heroin users actually started out using prescription painkillers (Johns, 2013). This correlation between heroin and prescription painkiller use supports the idea presented in the documentary that “prescription opiates are heroin prep school.”
Two main arguments for needle exchange programs include that the needle exchange would help prevent the spread of disease and that they are key to fighting HIV and in turn saving lives. Since, the needle exchange programs don’t really force people to get off the substance they are abusing, a lot of users will actually choose to do the treatment programs on their own because they don’t feel pressured into doing so. Not only do the needle exchange programs supply sterile needles they also supply counseling and therapy for those that not only want some help in the guidance of getting off their substance, but mental and life assistance to help them to reestablish their lives. By doing so the previously addicted can reestablish relat...
Needle exchange programs are a type of harm reduction initiative used in different parts of the world to combat HIV transmission. These programs provide injection drug users (IDUs) with clean needles and syringes (AVERT, 2015). These programs are run by pharmacies or other drug services, and can be either fixed or mobile sites (CDC, 2010). Besides aiming to reduce the transmission of HIV, these programs also provide advice on safe drug injection, how to minimize harm by drugs and overdose, how to safely handle injection equipment, and provide access to treatment if the person wishes. There are at least 90 countries that have implemented these programs, located in various areas such as the United States, Australia, Asia, Europe, Latin America,
The reason for the increased use of heroin are unclear currently but death rate and emergency room visits for heroin have grown to staggering rates there were 201,000 emergency room visits alone in 2008 and this is only for the lucky few that had friends kind enough to take them to seek help. There are thousands more that worst so lucky and remain unreported. Heroin has become such growing issue that Chattanooga Count has put out a put awareness campaign waring that there has been more death from heroin over dosing then vehicular manslaughter and homicide combine.
Needle exchange programs are defined as a program, which intended to slow the spread of AIDS among IV drug users. It provides factual information and education for drug users and community so that the use of drugs has a minimal negative impact. (Watson 1991: 14) The first needle exchange programs began to emerge across Europe in the mid- 1980’s and have become famous health strategy around the world. In Canada, NEPs was officially opened in Ontario in 1987 and Vancouver in 1989, and a total of 28 NEPs were operational by February 1993. Today, there are more than 100 NEPs functioning around Canada, most of which earn federal and provincial funding. Needle exchange programs aim to provide injection and encourage the utilization of sterile needle syringes and other paraphernalia among injecting drug u...
In Australia the Government uses three methods to tackle drugs; Demand reduction, supply reduction and harm minimization. Needle and syringe programs are under harm minimization category. Supply reduction is focused on drug dealers and drug makers and is brought about by law enforcement. In the Demand reduction method it is tried to decrease the number of people taking drugs through anti-drug advertisements and campaigns, legislation, rehabilitation centers. On the other hand harm minimization recognizes the fact that drugs can never be eradicated fro...
The dependence on hard core drugs in the United States is on a continuous climb. Heroin is the leading reason for this. Considered by many to be the hardest of hard drugs, thus making heroin a very popular choice among drug addicts. Heroin is a narcotic produced from the opium of the poppy plant and poses a serious risk to society. Since it could be injected, snorted or smoked heroin also causes health complications and the possibility of death. Sadly, none of that matters to an addict because they only want their next fix. A century ago the doctors who developed heroin were only hoping for a way to help patients, they were unaware their new found medicine would lead to decades of addiction, abuse, health problems and even death for many.
The Government needs to draw the line somewhere. In Sweden the Government was giving out free heroin, in order to keep the drugs free from being impure. However, Margaret McKay (2001) declares that if we follow in same steps, soon we will be giving out not only free heroin, but also other illegal substances as well. It will then lead to problems with other drugs as well.
Also, simply increasing the number of addiction treatment centers around the United States would likely get people help with their addiction. There are people who want to end their addiction, and there are people who do not want to end their addiction. The American people should not try and help the people who do not want help because if they are forced to get help or forced to go to a treatment center. When someone gets out of the treatment center they can go back to doing drugs again. Then, it is their choice and the American people’s time and money wasted. People who die from Opioid drug addiction are also people who disobeyed the law by illegally purchasing the drug, and put themselves at risk from the
Every day thousands of addicts are taking a major health risk by sharing dirty needles. These dirty needles are potentially harboring blood borne pathogens along with thousands of microorganisms and bacteria. This can be detrimental to the person who is putting this needle directly into their veins. Drugs might always be a problem, but there is one way to assist and help better the lives of the drug addicts. This aid is clean needle exchanges. By giving the addicts clean needles to use, this would help to prevent the spread of disease.Both of the images shown above are geared toward clean needle exchanges. In this case, the Addiction Treatment Alternatives picture is a better representation of clean needle exchanges.
Drug abuse and addiction are issues that affect people everywhere. However, these issues are usually treated as criminal activity rather than issues of public health. There is a conflict over whether addiction related to drug abuse is a disease or a choice. Addiction as a choice suggests that drug abusers are completely responsible for their actions, while addiction as a disease suggests that drug abusers need help in order to break their cycle of addiction. There is a lot of evidence that suggests that addiction is a disease, and should be treated rather than punished. Drug addiction is a disease because: some people are more likely to suffer from addiction due to their genes, drug abuse brought on by addictive behavior changes the brain and worsens the addiction, and the environment a person lives in can cause the person to relapse because addiction can so strongly affect a person.
For many years, people have suffered many devastations about addiction. It has become a common killer in the United States just like murder. Addiction has affected over 23 million people from the age 12 and older. These addictions are wide ranging, they can include alcohol, drugs, sex, video games, food, pornography, and gambling. People like to keep quite because they view this disease as morally wrong. Addicts sometimes shut out their family member because they are afraid of the reaction if anyone knew their problem. The Nation Institute of Drug Abuse states Addiction is as a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences.Today in 2016 addiction is spreading across