Heroin addiction is a
world problem. This drug, which comes
from the resin of a poppy plant, is known to cause people to become addicted to
the drug. It was believed that heroin,
which was said to have had a lower dose, and also made from the poppy plant
just like Morphine and Opium, this new drug “Heroin” would help get Morphine
addicts to slowly get off of the drug.
In the end, the present day tells us otherwise. With addicts fighting to keep the needle in
their veins instead of becoming sick and having track marks all over their
bodies, and with things not looking good for the future, things look grim due
to the fact of how hard it is to stop the production of the drug, millions will
remain affected.
It can be found today in Afghanistan but was known to
come from Persia, Egypt and Mesopotamia as well, hundreds of years before (Heroin:
what is it?). Heroin was created in 1899 by the Bayer
Pharmaceutical Company to help Morphine addicts (1). In the 1850’s, Opium was a
big problem in the United States.
Hundreds of people were addicted to Opium (1). Then the creation of
Morphine by the Germans came into play in the 1860’s. It was suppose too help people with the
addiction of Opium, but it just got worse.
The invention of heroin was also suppose too stop the addiction of Morphine. This did not help either it just made people
more addicted to the drug (1).
As of 2007, ninety-three percent of Heroin comes from
Afghanistan (International statistics).
In the world, more than thirteen and a half million people take opioids (1). Out of them, 9.2 million use Heroin (1). It also is said that the world wide sales of
opioids is more than four billion dollars a year, with three quarters of the
profits going to the people who traffic the drug (1). The other part going to the farmers. A survey by The National Drug and Health in 2007 said, the reported people using
heroin was about 150,000, but they said that they believe that is was more
close to 900,000 (1). Another statistic
is that eighteen percent of people in the United States being treated for
drugs, is for the drug Heroin (1).
Another statistic is that four out of five people who die due to drugs
in Europe is related to the drug Heroin (1).
Some of the facts about what Heroin looks like is in its
purist form it looks like a white powder (what does heroin look like?). It can also look like a rose gray, brown, or
black in color (1). It is said that due
to the fact of the drug being diluted by dealers, it can turn different colors (1). There is things like sugar, caffeine, and
other things that can be added to dilute the product (1). In the streets, drug dealers are known to cut
the Heroin with things like strychnine.
This unknown to the drug abuser can be very dangerous. It can cause complications to the blood
vessels leading to the kidney, brain, and lungs. The blood clots can potentially lead to
infection or cause damage to the organs (1).
Most of the people who buy drugs on the streets have no idea what is in
the drug. With this being done, there is
most likely going to be a death or an overdose (1).
Heroin is known to be smoked, sniffed or injected (What
does Heroin look like?). It goes by the
names: Big H, Smack, Brown Sugar, Horse, Thunder and Hell Dust, these are just
a few of the names they call it on the streets (1). When used, it is said that you can be able to
get this amazing high and still be able to function and interact with people (1). In the article, it stated that you also get a
sensation of sex in your mind, but it normally does not last long (1).
The Bayer Pharmaceuticals Company also sold aspirins and
heroin in children’s medication (Edwards). In the early 20th
century, there was a “watchdog group” that investigated the Bayer Company (1). They found that the company was advertising
posters that said it will cure the cough of your children. There was a picture of two children reaching
for a medicine bottle, and it was written in Spanish. The saying said, “La tos desparece”(1). Another poster had a mother giving her
children a spoonful of the medicine. It
is said that back in those days any company could do or sell whatever they
wanted (1). There was not limits to
selling a product back in those days (Edwards).
Some of the examples of the effects of heroin were Suzanne,
who wrote:
“Heroin cut me off from
the rest of the world. My parents kicked
me out, my friends and my brothers
didn’t want to see me anymore. I was all
alone”(1). The example was Allison, who
said:
From
the day I started using, I never stopped.
Within one week I had gone from snorting heroin to shooting it. Within one month I was addicted and going
through all of my money. I sold
everything of value that I owned, and eventually what my mom owned. Within one year I had lost everything. I sold my car, lost my job, was kicked out of
my mother’s house, was out on the streets and twenty five thousand dollars in
debt. Now living on the streets of
Camden, New Jersey, I stole, I cheated, I was raped, beaten, mugged, robbed,
arrested, homeless and sick. I knew that
nobody could live a lifestyle like that for very long, and I knew that death was
imminent. If anything, death was better than life as a junkie. (1).
In
an interview with Mr. Knows Best, he was nice enough to give me a firsthand
account of the life as a heroin addict. One of the questions asked was how did you get
introduced to heroin? He responded: “that
a friend told me there was nothing like it and that I should give it a try. I
was hooked the first time I tried it!”
He also said: “that his friend P.J and Mike taught him how to use it,
and that they were older than him.” When asked when it was his first time experimenting
with heroin, he replied, “I was twenty five years old and I injected it.” He
also said: “that there was only one way to do it and that was by injecting it.
Any other way is a waste of money!”
Another question asked was; where did you get it? His response was? “I actually got it from
people I met in high school and who were friends. We got it in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
It was a three hour drive to Tulsa. Then, I started getting it in Tulsa and
bringing it back to my hometown where I could resell it to pay for my own
habit.” What was the outcome of using
heroin I asked; did you steal for it? Did you bring problems to your loved
ones? He said, “I never had to steal
anything; I had a great job in the oilfield that allowed me to buy heroin. But,
I did miss a lot of work due to using it. My dad was one of the bosses where I
worked, and he covered for me, so I was able to keep my job without any
trouble.” Then I asked, how did you finally kick the habit? Was it a tough battle? He responded, “I would not have kicked my
habit without my wonderful wife, then girlfriend, who came into my house, took
care of me, and helped me get my life together.” He also said, a lot of people
go to methadone treatment houses to kick their heroin habit. But, that’s just
replacing one bad habit with another. I’ve always been strong willed, “Mind
over matter!” so I was able to stop without that. I did have withdrawals and
was sick for several days. I had the shakes and sweats. Lots of junkies use
jail as their way to get clean. I didn’t need to do any of those, though.” Once
a junkie, always a junkie, he said. Even to this day, I can watch someone
shooting heroin, and I can still get an urge to shoot up. It’s a thrill like no
other”(1).
a. When
it comes to the treatment of heroin addicts, some of the options are
pharmacological medications, or there is behavioral treatment centers (What are
the treatments for heroin?). These are
said to be some of the best treatments when it comes to slowing down the drug
use, the cut down on transmitted diseases, and illegal criminal activity this
is what is being used today to help the situation (1). These treatments also have been a success
when it comes to employment by the heroin addicts (1). The goal of these treatment facilities is to
work on the brain functions and the behaviors of the heroin addicts. They know it will not solve the problem
completely, but it is a great step to hopefully something bigger down the
road.
When
it comes to the pharmacological treatments, the goal is to take the urge for
the heroin (1). One of the first steps
in this treatment is to detoxify the patient.
Again, the reason being to help addicts from committing crimes or having
unsafe sexual contact (1). Using the meds
is said to be used to try to hit the opioid receptors in the brain to help it
fight off the urge of the heroin (1).
This helps counteract the signal the heroin is sending to the receptors
in the brain. It is said the med are
very safe in the treatments (1).
Three types of medications that are
being used are: Agonsis, partial opiods, and the Antegonists (1). These three type of meds work on the opiod
receptors which is a part of the brain that the drug heroin targets. The Antegonists blocks the signal that the
drugs sends to the brain (1). Methadone
is another drug used to help heroin addicts (1). This drug helps activate the opiod receptors,
but makes it respond in a slower manner rather than the way heroin makes your
brain react. Mathadone, which came in
the 1960’s, is a drug that also helps heroin addicts from having withdraws
(1). This drug is only used in the out
patient treatment programs, and is giving on a daily basis (1).
Buprenorphine is another drug used
fro heroin addiction. This is a partial
agonist med (1). This drug basically takes
away the cravings of heroin and gives you a sense of relief. Another drug that is used today is Suboxone
(1). It is like a generic
Buprenorphine. This drug is commonly
taken orally (1). The function of this
drug is to stop the attempt to get high from the heroin. Naloxone is a drug that will induce withdraw
symtoms (1). This drug was approve in
2002 by the FDA (bruprenophine) (1). In
2013, the FDA also approved two generic forms of Suloxone making it more
affordable to heroin addicts around the country (1). Nalthexone, blocks the actions of
opiods. It is not an addictive product,
or you do not become dependent of it (1).
Nathexone is a drug that is injected.
It is given once a month (1).
This is a list of really good options for the heroin epidemic.
In the Behavioral treatment
therapy’s, the cognitive behavioral treatment is made to help the patient
understand their drug usage. This
happens when they learn to control their emotion and anger (1). They learn to build skills and deal with life
issues. The hopes is that they can learn
to control their anger and take responsibility for their lives, and get back on
track (1).
Learned
and tried to put to getter a solution for the heroin drug epidemic.
What
a tough battle it is for so many people, like the addicts and their family and
friends. The only thing that I could
think of to stop the heroin epidemic
Was
to try to use more funds to go to the countries and work with the Government in
charge in the region. Even though we do
it now, we still need to put more pressure on the growers of the poppy plant,
and the smugglers. And people caught
selling the drug should be given long term sentences, or make a deal to get a
lesser sentence if they give up the main dealers. Another thing that can be done is to show
films of heroin users to elementary, intermediate and high school kids, and
educate them about the bad things that can happen if you try this drug. My ideas to the solution may be a
contributing factor to the problem, and my save a life or two one day. My feeling is that if we could all at least
have one idea to a solution, maybe, just maybe millions of lives will be change
for the better, later down the road.
If Camus were to have been living in
the world today with the heroin epidemic the way it is, he would be a person
who would fight to help people with the addiction. He also might have hated it. Camus to me was someone who I felt that would
not run from a situation, but he would try to help with a solution. In the story he to me did not like the
ugliness of certain things like: weather, dirty cities and ugly people. This is why I feel he would be right in the
mix of the problem trying to help out.
In the end, like Michelle and Mike
said in the interview question I asked, “what
would it take to inform people of telling their loved ones to stay away from
Heroin?” They both answere d with a
similar response and said choose your friends wisely and it’s a nasty drug but
very addictive (Michelle, Garcia, Mike, Doe)!! For me knowing how much it can
effect a person, because I have had a niece addicted to heroin and it was just
problems. Hopefully one day we can come
up with a cure for the millions who have fallen victim to the drug heroin.
Work Cited
Edwards.
Jim.“Yes Bayer Promoted heroin for children here are the ads to prove it”. Web.
Nov
Foundation for a Drug
Free World. “International Statistics”. Web. 2006-2016
Interview
with Michelle Garcia (April 2016
Interview
with Mike Doe (April 2016)
Interview with Mr. Knows
Best (March 2016)
“What are the treatments for heroin?”.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. Web. Nov. 20, 2014
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