Heroin addiction is a significant problem in the United States, but particularly Ohio. According to the CDC, “Heroin-related deaths more than tripled between 2010 and 2015, with 12,989 heroin deaths in 2015.” (“Understanding the Epidemic”). Heroin addicts often start out addicted to prescription painkillers, and transition to heroin when the prescription drugs become too difficult or expensive to obtain. Many addicts in the United States are unable to get affordable treatment, which is a likely cause of the rise of deaths. The United States should work to expand access to addiction treatment programs. Heroin addiction is a serious issue across the United States. Over 10,500 deaths per year are attributed to heroin, and even more are attributed …show more content…
Opiates are used as painkillers because they bind to opioid receptors on nerve cells in the brain and decrease the feelings of pain, as well as increasing dopamine levels. This floods the brain’s reward system, leading to addiction. (Ouzir, 60). One theory that attempts to explain why people get addicted to drugs is the incentive-sensitization theory. Mounir Ouzir writes about this: “The incentive-sensitization theory asserts that the motivational properties of drugs are related directly to their subjective pleasurable effects which create adaptations in the brain (Robinson and Berridge, 1993, 2000).” (Ouzir, 60). The opioid receptors are responsible for feelings of comfort and happiness, but too much stimulation leads to drowsiness and potentially death. Additionally, if opioids are used too frequently, the body stops producing natural opioids, leading to withdrawal symptoms when the drugs are no longer used (Volkow). This also leads to desensitization of the natural opioid system, which causes a tolerance to build and leads to dependence (Ouzir, …show more content…
However, the scientific community is largely in consensus that addiction should be classified as a brain disease. As discussed earlier, Ishani Deb’s study suggests that addiction is heritable, similar to many diseases (Deb, 489). Nora Volkow also refers to addiction as a disease: “The transition from misusing prescription opioids to using heroin may be part of the natural progression of disease in a subset of users.” (Volkow). Finally, Mounir Ouzir writes, “Drug addiction is now believed to be a brain disease that affects the physiology of certain brain regions and causes severe alterations in behavior, memory and neural cell life and may even cause neuronal cell death (Mewes et al., 2010; Koob and Volkow, 2010; Gold et al., 2009; Fowler et al., 2007).” (Ouzir,
About 435,000 Americans regularly use heroin, a large increase in the last decade. 28,000 deaths a year are attributed to opiate overdoses, 2,590 of which occur in Ohio. This causes an increase of children in government custody, law enforcement officers carrying naloxone, and overflow in treatment centers. Drug traffickers choose Ohio to avoid violence involved with drug trade in large cities. Clinics over-prescribed very addictive painkillers, but once law enforcement cracked down they became very expensive, giving the cheap drug heroin an advantage. Adam Conkey was prescribed with pain pills twenty years ago, which started him on the road to heroin. Conkey and his girlfriend, Natasha
According to Leshner, drug addiction is a chronic brain disease that is expressed in the form of compulsive behaviors (Leshner, 2001). He believes that drug addiction is influence by both biological, and behavioral factors, and to solve this addiction problem we need to focus on these same factors. On the other hand, Neil Levy argues that addiction is not a brain disease rather it is a behavioral disorder embedded in social context (Levy, 2013). I believe, drug addiction is a recurring brain disease that can be healed when we alter and eliminate all the factors that are reinforcing drug addiction.
Chasing Heroin is a two-hour documentary that investigates America’s heroin crisis. The documentary details the opioid epidemic and how police offers, social workers, and public defenders are working to save the lives of addicts. The documentary explores the origins and continuing causes behind the heroin epidemic such as; massive increases in opioid painkillers starting at the turn of the century, Mexican drug cartels who are now rooted in upper-middle-class neighborhoods, and the cheap price of heroin when compared to prescription pain killers. A program in Seattle called LEAD is explored. This program channels addicts into a system that points them toward help (rehab, temporary housing, counseling, methadone treatment) instead of prison
Opiates are a class of drugs that are used for chronic pain. Opioids are substances that are used to relieve pain by binding opiate receptors throughout the body, and in the brain. These areas in the brain control pain and also emotions, producing a feeling of excitement or happiness. As the brain gets used to these feelings, and the body builds a tolerance to the opioids, there is a need for more opioids and then the possibility of addiction.
One of the reasons the epidemic has become so widespread is due to the addictiveness of opioids. Opioids are prescription medications used to treat pain, with oxycodone and hydrocodone being the more popular drugs (Mayo). Opioids are addictive because of the way
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.
There are an estimated 25,000 heroin users in Victoria (Hodder, p.10). This is a very large amount of people on drugs, in the last 10 years it has been shown to increase and therefore the drug issue is becoming a major problem to all the people in Victoria.
Increased risk of death among heroin addicts in Columbus Ohio, related to an epidemic as evidenced by the number of overdoses occurring in Ohio, as it leads the nation in deaths.
“There are nearly 200,000 inmates in federal prisons, and almost half are drug offenders.” Drug addicts get arrested and thrown in jail, yet weeks later they come out and continue their same habits. This type of cycle is not good for police officers, taxpayers, or the addicts. In “Chasing Heroin,” the PBS program Frontline discusses the heroin epidemic and possible solutions, like the L.E.A.D. program. This program is very flexible and provides statistics on its effectiveness, but is very controversial with how lenient they are towards allowing their patients to continue using. The L.E.A.D. program needs to be provided more funding in order to help spread its comforting and supportive program to more addicts, in order to help them improve their lives.
A young mother suffers a heroin overdose. She lays lifeless amid the aisle of a Massachusetts Family Dollar, and the cries of her daughter erupt upon social media, for a bystander recorded the distressing incident. A hopeful young man, one week following his rehabilitation discharge, died inside of his Colorado home, overdosing on sedatives and opioids. (The Opioid Crisis, Peter Katel). The heroin and opioid crisis continually fluctuates within the United States, and many experts contemplate whether unique programs and medical institutions can provide for these abusers and evade a steady growth in the opioid epidemic. Concepts to reduce the opioid crisis include promoting awareness of opioid history, establishing safe-injection sites, advocating
A disease is what happens in the body as a result of those choices. As has been noted, many people do believe addiction is a sign of weakness. While the first time may be by choice, once the brain has been changed and affected by addiction. Over time the addict loses substantial control over his or her initially voluntary behavior, and it becomes compulsive (Leshner.) In Marc Branch’s “Drug Addiction. Is It a Disease or Is It Based on Choice? A Review of Gene Heyman’s Addiction: A Disorder of Choice” he discusses and explains Gene Heyman’s opinions on rather addiction is a disease or not. Heyman argues that people do not choose to be drug addicts, rather they make choices that lead to their habit of addiction. Heyman however does not believe addiction is an actual disease. Many others argue that addiction is not an actual disease because people can overcome the addiction without help or treatment. On the other hand, in Alan Leshner’s “Addiction Is a Brain Disease” he declares that addiction is an actual disease and explains “using drugs repeatedly over time changes brain structure and function in fundamental and long-lasting ways that can persist long after the individual stops using them”
Opiate pills are astonishingly easy to find. Disturbingly, prescription opiate abusers are more likely to eventually develop a heroin addiction than a non-opiate abuser, as heroin will offer a parallel high at an inexpensive fee. While opiate painkillers do vary in how powerful they are, opiates are numbing painkillers that weaken the central nervous system, slow down body functioning, and reduce physical and psychological pain. Although countless prescription opioid narcotics are used in the way they were intended for the extent prescribed without complications, certain people become addicted to the way in which the drugs make them
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.
The Journal of Neuroscience Dobler-Mikola, A. Gschwed, P. Gutzwiller, F. Steffen, T. Rehm, J. Uch engagen, A. Feasibility, Safety, and Efficacy of Injectable Heroin Prescription for Refractory Opioid Addicts: a follow-up study. The Lancet, volume 358, pg. 1417-1420. Everitt, B. Robbins, T. (1999) Drug addiction: bad habits add up. Macmillian Magazines, volume 389, pg.
Drug addiction is a very big problem in today’s society. Many people have had their lives ruined due to drug addiction. The people that use the drugs don’t even realize that they have an addiction. They continue to use the drug not even realizing that their whole world is crashing down around them. Drug addicts normally lose their family and friends due to drug addiction.