The Reality of the “Hillbilly Heroin” Epidemic in Appalachia McDOWELL COUNTY, March 9—West Virginia’s Bureau of Public Health determined that the state of drug addiction and abuse in McDowell County, West Virginia is increasing in high numbers. McDowell County, known to be one of the poorest counties in America, is a community overwhelmed with the devastating effects of poverty and drug addiction. This is clearly a problem too dire to ignore. Background: The problem arose due to the fact that coal-mining jobs declined in the county; the decline of jobs foreshadowed the inevitable decline of income (McDowell County’s median household income declined to $22,000). Poverty-struck Appalachians, with no where else to turn, turned to drugs. However,
Event: Tom accuses Matt of killing Furball, and Tam Lin is disappointed in Matt, but doesn’t see him as a beast, but as a human who made a mistake. “But Tam Lin had called Matt a human and expected much more from him. Humans, Matt realized, were a lot harder to forgive,” (138).
Methadone Maintenance Treatment The Methadone Maintenance Treatment (Camh) helps patients overcome an addiction of opioid dependence. The treatment uses methadone as a replacement for the opioid. Methadone is a narcotic drug that helps suppress opioid withdrawal symptoms, reduce cravings for opioids, not induce intoxication (e.g., sedation or euphoria) and reduce the euphoric effects of other opioids, such as heroin (Camh). MMT is beneficial to the patient in many reasons.
Much of the drug’s distribution center is in New York, specifically Harlem. In 1964, The Federal Bureau of Narcotics reported, “an estimated 48,525 “active addicts” resided in the country, half of whom were believed to live in New York City.” The apprehension for heroin abuse grew and within
In March 2015 the narcotics unit reported they had seized over $8,400 of heroin since January (Wolfe, J., 2015). Alcoholism is also prevalent in this county, which may contribute to the 1.6% of liver disease seen (Blood Testing Lab Locations in Canton., 2015). Since there are many citizens affected by drugs and alcohol, one can hypothesize that there is a high rate of undiagnosed mental and behavioral health issues in the communities that make up Cherokee County (CHNA, 2012). The 30114 community has several outpatient mental health facilities.
In the late 1960’s Heroin became a large problem in New York and the rest of the country. The Government nor the police knew what to do. So every person who dealt with the drugs or anything related was sent straight to jail. They had no idea that the problem required more than just locking the people. The narrator states “Billions of dollars are spent building more jails.”
Heroine is appealing to the rural youth of America. Many say this is due to boredom, lack of education and recent accessibility of the drug. Vermont is just a short distance to two major cities; Boston and New York which gives a direct line to any markets we may think don’t exist in a place like rural Vermont. When in fact, there has been a shocking increase in the use of heroin and other hard drugs used by kids in rural places (Heroin Moves to the Country). A video from CBS News explained not only has there been more than double increase in users but there has been an extreme increase in female users and white users as well.
Underlying Causes: The increase in the sale of opioids is considered to be the root of the opioid crisis, as the drugs have been proven to be highly addictive. An addiction to prescriptive opioids, however, can lead to an addiction to synthetic, illegal opioids, such as heroine or fentanyl, which are less expensive and easier to acquire. In fact, in their journal article, “Associations of nonmedical pain reliever use and initiation of heroin use in the United States” Pradip Muhuri and associates discovered that “the recent (12 months preceding interview) heroin incidence rate was 19 times higher among those who reported prior nonmedical prescription pain reliever (NMPR) use than among those who did not (0.39 vs. 0.02 percent)” (Muhuri et. al). In other words, abusing prescription opioids significantly raises the chances of abusing illicit drugs, such as heroin.
Cocaine/Crack Use of the coca plant native to South America dates back to the early 1800’s and maybe even further back in time, when indigenous people, royalty, and high priests used to chew or suck on a leaf from the plant as an herbal stimulant to give them energy. It elevates dopamine and serotonin and gives a feeling of pleasure, it helps ease pain but also can stop the heart, damage heart tissue, cause high body temperature and stimulate the heart so much that it causes ventricular fibrillation.
The Cocaine Epidemic The beginning of the crack cocaine epidemic began in the early 1970’s when crack cocaine was considered a fashionable drug for entertainers and businesspeople. Cocaine helped users stay awake and it gave them energy for the day. It was popular for businessmen or anyone with a stressful job to take. It even spread to colleges as we see in most colleges the amount of students experimenting with cocaine increased tenfold from 1970 to 1980. By the late 1970’s Colombian drug cartels began smuggling massive amounts of cocaine into major United States cities, primarily Miami and New York City.
It seems like Opium is starting over. Matteo Alacran had become the new leader of Opium, after the death of El Patron, former drug leader, had perished. Before Matteo became the new leader there was a lockdown in Opium, which caused many confusions for the people. Celia, his care taker, had asked him what it was like when, his clone, El Patron had died, and this was his response, “I have gotten over it, he was a bad man and it seemed like he was trying break up this country.” said Matteo Alacran.
Addicted The drug epidemic in Niagara Falls has been ongoing for years and it just keeps getting worse. Addicts are becoming the norm for this community and it is becoming increasingly dangerous. The question is, is it really the addicts’ fault? Some might agree that it is.
Methamphetamine is a major dilemma in the United States, and Caldwell county is no exception to this developing problem that can have lasting impacts on society. These impacts are not only limited to destroying lives of the people but also impacting entire communities due to the notorious history of this lethal drug. There are limitless long and short term effects of Meth that can occur to any one person that even attempts the drug on any instance. Methamphetamines can be very destructive to the communities that surround where it is being produced, sold, and abused. Many communities in Caldwell County experience these impacts and suffer through them even today.
This article" without a plan to tackle addiction, you're not qualified to be president" was posted online with the Huffington post, October 22, 2015. Patrick R krill quotes " the title says it all". Journalist Patrick krill touches on his concerns about the overwhelming widespread disease that's known as addiction and has farmed individual dreams as well as their future, especially the American youth. As a result 9 out of 10 Americans touched on using drugs prior to the age of 18, furthermore 1 out of 4 became dependent. According to Patrick these individuals that struggle with addiction that touches on every inch of the economy, natrium security, civil rights,family,education which Patrick covers in the article to inform his readers.
The Rockingham County Partnership for Success Grant awarded by, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Use, aims to reduce prescription drug misuse among adolescents and young adults ages 12-25. The strategic plan for addressing prescription drug misuse in Rockingham County was a successful project for field based research. The strategic plan includes a logic model and action plan for Rockingham County Partnership for Success Grant and coalitions in Rockingham County to work together to address this problem. The logic model and action plan was completed by Chelsea Bullins, but is also a document for coalitions to use, contingent upon data sharing agreements. Collecting data for this grant that is related to the field-based research
Cocaine is the one of the oldest major drugs of constantly natural origin. Benzoyl-methyl-ecgonine (chemical compound of cocaine) originates in the lower altitudes of the eastern slopes of th eAndes, or the highlands depending on the species grown, in particular in Bolivia,Colombia and Peru. However, coca is a relatively easy plant to grow. Over time the powdery drug formed from a plant in western south america became almost iconic; popularized by people and up and coming companies. In 1884 Cocaine was Praised as Miracle Cure by Sigmund Freud The American medical community embraces cocaine as a miracle cure for a variety of ailments, including, ironically, addiction to morphine and alcohol.