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Essay on the heroin epidemic
Essay on the heroin epidemic
Essay on the heroin epidemic
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The Heroin Epidemic in the Buckeye State
Heroin Overdose deaths are more prominent in the news than ever before, and it is not because people are bored and decided to report on something. The spike in opioid overdoses is not something people can just decide not to hear, it is a growing problem and it is growing fast. Drug abuse is real and heroin is being abused every day on the streets of Ohio. We can prevent the growing opioid overdose epidemic in America by informing the general population on what actually happens in an opioid overdose, spending time and money researching new non-addictive pain-killing medication and fund and/or support the use of drugs to counteract the effects of the opiates for an overdose. Opioid Overdoses are now the
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Heroin, also known as diamorphine, is an opiate typically used as a recreational drug. Medically it is used to relieve pain and as a form of opioid replacement therapy alongside counseling. Heroin is typically injected, usually into a vein. However, it can also be smoked, snorted or inhaled. Heroin purity has been classified into four grades. Number 4 is the purest form, white powder (salt) to be easily dissolved and injected. Number 3 is “brown sugar” for smoking (base). Number 1 and number 2 are unprocessed raw heroin (salt and/or …show more content…
In the U.S., the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act was passed in 1914 to control the sale and distribution of diacetylmorphine and other opiates, which allowed the drug to be prescribed and sold for medical purposes. By the mid 1920’s, heroin manufacture had been made illegal in many parts of the world. The United States Congress banned heroin sales, importation of heroin and the manufacturing of heroin in 1924. Heroin marketing was essentially eliminated in the U.S. during World War ll because of brief trade troubles caused by the war. Although it remained legal in some countries until after World War ll, health risks, addiction and widespread recreational use steered most western countries to announce heroin a controlled substance by the late 20th century. Heroin is now a Schedule I substance, which makes it illegal for non-medical use. In the United States, diamorphine is a Schedule I drug according to the Controlled Substance Act of 1970, making it illegal to possess without a DEA license. If caught in possession of more than 100 grams of diamorphine or any mixture containing diamorphine, the punishment is a minimum sentence of 5 years in a federal
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.”
Where did this drug come from and what makes it different from any other drug that is on the market? Heroin's origins go back long before Christ was a bleep on the radar. It goes back to 1200 B.C. Or the Bronze Age. At that time how ever heroin would be known as its chemically altered state of the poppy seeds. Even at that time however the ancient peoples of that time knew that if the poppy seeds juice were collected and dried. the extract that was left behind could make a effective painkiller. This would later be named opium. There were small incidents of it appearing in Europe, for instance it was used by the gladiators in the Roman Colosseum. But as a whole it would take more then a millennium for opium to travel from the Middle East to the Europe. This only occurred do to crusades. In just a few hundred after that is went from a rarely used painkiller to a liquid that was said to cure all aliments and would even lead to the most humiliating defeat China Empire. In the 1803 opium became dwarfed by its new brother morphine which is named in honor of the Greek god Morpheus who is the god of dreams. Morphine is an extract of opium and is ruffly 10 times the strength of its counter part. After Morphine creation it was put to used almost at once to assist battle field victims. This was a mistake however, because this refined does of opium is also 10 times more addicting then it was in its original form. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers would retur...
In the United States, opioid addiction rates have majorly increased . Between 2000-2015 more than half a million individuals have died from Opioid overdose, and nearly 5 million people have an opioid dependence which has become a serious problem. The Center for Disease control reports that there are 91 deaths daily due to opioid abuse. Taking opioids for long periods of time and in
On the typical day, over 90 people will die at the hand of opioid abuse in America alone (National). In fact, as of 2014, nearly 2 million Americans were dependent and abusing opioids. The Opioid Crisis has affected America and its citizens in various ways, including health policy, health care, and the life in populous areas. Due to the mass dependence and mortality, the crisis has become an issue that must be resolved in all aspects.
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.
Heroin was originally synthesized in 1874 by a man named C.R Alder Wright. Created as a solution to opium, a drug that had plagued many American households. It was originally produced for medical purposes evidently becoming highly addictive. Heroin “... was originally marketed as a non-addictive substance” (“History of Addiction”) which inevitably increased its popularity. It became especially popular in places of poverty. Heroin became a solution to struggle. So common it was almost as if heroin was a prescribed medicine for hardship. Known as “[a] treatment of many illnesses and pain” (“A brief history of addiction”) but later revealed that it caused more harm than good. Being so easily accessible it became immensely common among musicians.
The rate of death due to prescription drug abuse in the U.S. has escalated 313 percent over the past decade. According to the Congressional Quarterly Transcription’s article "Rep. Joe Pitt Holds a Hearing on Prescription Drug Abuse," opioid prescription drugs were involved in 16,650 overdose-caused deaths in 2010, accounting for more deaths than from overdoses of heroin and cocaine. Prescribed drugs or painkillers sometimes "condemn a patient to lifelong addiction," according to Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This problem not only affects the lives of those who overdose but it affects the communities as well due to the convenience of being able to find these items in drug stores and such. Not to mention the fact that the doctors who prescribe these opioids often tend to misuse them as well. Abusing these prescribed drugs can “destroy dreams and abort great destinies," and end the possibility of the abuser to have a positive impact in the community.
Years after Anslinger’s stint, the Controlled Substance Act was signed by former president Richard Nixon in 1970, classifying all drugs by their medicinal use and likelihood of being abused. Drugs such as weed and LSD were classified under schedule 1, meaning they were among the most addictive and easiest to misuse. The following year, Nixon declared drugs as “public enemy number one” and sparked what is now known as the “War on Drugs”. His proclamation came as the result of a growing use of recreational drugs in the 1960’s, leading Congress to grant $350 million to fight the growing distribution and possession of narcotics. The first area this targeted was abroad, where soldiers fighting in the Vietnam War were using drugs to get through the long battle.
I would uninvent the use of opioids as a pain relief. Though they are extremely effective, they are too effective and it is a really big problem. From a logical, objective, standpoint, opioids cost billions of dollars a year. Between the cost of making, distributing, over doses, methadone clinics, narcan production, ambulance rides, and the many other costs involved with this terrible addiction it is bad for the economy. Not to mention the draw it has on society as a whole. Many addicts are unemployed, having children and then abandoning them, cause car accidents, creating public disturbances and destroying property. Addicts are a complete nuisance in society and rarely contribute. But it is not their fault, addiction is a disease they cannot
I personally cannot even think about losing the loved ones closest to me for anything, let alone a death due to opioid overdose. According to Disease Control and Protection Centers opioid overdose has risen 30 percent all together; within 16 emergency departments across the states -Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania Rhode Island, West Virginia and Wisconsin- drug overdose went up 35 percent, in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Illinois have been reported of an uptick to 50 percent or more increase.
The New York Times Op-Ed Article ‘Congress Wakes up to the Opioid Epidemic’ highlights the dangerous effects of opioid addiction in the U.S., and how Congress should make changes to help end the epidemic. The article describes the vast number of Americans that are addicted to prescription and illicit opioids, making opioid overdose a common cause of death. Since 2000, the death rate of opioid caused deaths has tripled, and continues to increase. Congress has addressed this issue quite late, and the article suggests ways for the government to act on the epidemic. Some ideas mentioned were investing more money in treatment programs, training physicians to monitor prescription opioid use more carefully, and making Buprenorphine, a weaker opioid
All over the world people just like us are struggling with an opioid addiction. It has gotten so bad that it has turned into an epidemic. In 2016 a total of 116 people died every day from an opioid related drug overdose and 11.5 people miss uses prescription opioids. President trump has now made this epidemic a public health emergency or also known as a national emergency. Everyone all over the world need to step up and help defeat this opioid epidemic.
More than 3 decades ago, America’s opioid epidemic began taking shape. Although based on good intentions and pharmaceutical propaganda, an upsurge in prescription narcotics for pain treatment is credited with the reemergence of the deadly illicit substance: heroin. According to the CDC (2018), more than 48,000 people died in 2016 (the last full statistical data year) from unintentional drug overdose, with more than 84% of these overdoses directly related to an opioid substance, making it the leading cause of accidental death, surpassing automobile accidents and even some forms of cancer. Even more alarming, heroin is killing our youth in unprecedented numbers.
Heroin is a painkiller alkaloid, and is illegal in Canada and U.S.A. It is made from the poppy plants and also can be converted from opium. It provides a “rush” that makes the user feel happy and away from the world and it’s issues. After the effects wear off, the user craves more. Most often, the “best rush” is caused by injecting it, therefore more users inject. If a user doesn’t use it again, withdrawal occurs and is discomforting.
The only difference between morphine and heroin is the two acetyl groups on the 3 and 6 carbons. This makes the process relatively easy and is done by mixing morphine base with acetic anhydride, an ethyl ester. This causes the two hydroxyl groups on carbons 3 and 6 to be replaced by acetyl groups and form heroin and water as byproducts.