The Heroin Epidemic In Philadelphia

Central idea: Three reasons why you shouldn’t use heroin: first, addiction; second, commit crimes; third, death.

          The opioid crisis has risen over the years here in America. The addiction to painkillers has caused many drug overdoses across America. According to the Vox," In 2015, more than 52,000 people have died from drug overdoses from linked to opioids such as Percocet, heroin, Oxycontin or even fentanyl. This problem did not become an overnight health crisis, but it has become quickly known in America.

Brought over by chinese immigrants in the 1850’s, opium took off in the United States. Opiates are drugs used to reduce pain and were used in many different medications both prescription and over-the-counter. Morphine came about in 1803 original used for pain in civil war soldiers led to a wave of morphine addiction. Heroin was introduced in the 1900’s to help with morphine addiction. It became big in the 1930’s and 40’s due to jazz culture. Due to street heroin purity improving in the 1980’s heroin usage increased substantially in the 1990’s. (A Social History of America 's Most Popular

I. Importance: As American deaths from drug overdoses continue to rise in the United States, the nation is faced with a public health crisis so profound that in October 2017, President Trump declared the opioid epidemic to be a national public health emergency (Merica). President Trump’s declaration came after numerous studies indicating the danger opioid addiction posed; for example, a 2016 study entitled “Increases in Drug and Opioid-Involved Overdose Deaths—United States, 2010-2015” claimed that drug overdose deaths “nearly tripled during 1999-2014,” reaching a startling high 52,404 deaths in 2015 (Rudd, et al). These statistics are more than just disturbing revelations regarding the opioid crisis; they are evidence of a serious problem that is rapidly affecting the lives of more and more Americans every year.

The government and administrators of prisons and treatment centers are trying to lower the cost of incarceration and treatment centers. Treatment centers are the more expensive option but it last longer and has more permanent effects in low level drug criminals. The family and individual want the easiest option that helps them or their children to treat their addiction. They want to use treatment centers to treat the addiction to prevent them crime again.

Prescription drug abuse in the United States has officially been declared an epidemic by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Prescription Drug Abuse Statistics, 2013). Due to the increase of prescription drug abuse, prescription narcotics have been considered the new “gateway” drug to heroin addiction. The prescription drug epidemic is being fueled by prescribers and physicians that are not utilizing proper guidelines when prescribing narcotics to patients. A major concern is that doctors are shying away from utilizing therapy and counseling, which could alleviate the use and abuse of prescription medication. With the increase of prescription medication flooding the population, this has lead to society’s concern that doctors are

Drug abuse is the habitual taking of addictive or illegal drugs in order to feel a euphoria, treat pain, or help with sleeping disorders. Drug abuse is a chronic brain disease that causes drug use despite the harmful consequences to the user and the people around them. In Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, the dystopian society portrayed is oblivious to the impact of the censorship around them. Books are banned and if found, they are burned along with their houses. The people in this society do not have time to think about anything because they are constantly surrounded by the constant chaos of loud noises on commercials or televisions and are over stimulated. Addiction and drug abuse is used as a way to escape the harsh problems in society.

Each time an addict injects themselves, they are at risk of overdosing and potentially dying. If the government is really concerned about the health and well-being of addicts, they should implement strategies to treat the addicts. A good metaphor is used in the article “Say No To Needle Distribution Programs, (2014) the metaphor refers to Russian Roulette in that handing out clean needles is a form of Russian Roulette. A user can go and get needles numerous times and be fine but one they will be unlucky and one day the addict 's needle will be the last needle

An immoral way would be to allow all people who overdose to die, with no chance of using Narcan to resuscitate them, thus causing widespread fear of the use of heroin and opiates. Narcan is a drug that is used to revive someone in the event of an overdose, but timing is critical, if you wait to long to administer the Narcan the person will die. A morally acceptable way would be to lower the amount of drug users. Doctors have taken a number of precautions such as limiting the amount of painkillers a patient can receive and even taking strong drugs off the market. These precautions have done very little to stop the use of opiates. Quinones states, “As the opiate epidemic mangled the middle class, these kids doped up and dropped out. Earlier generations of opiate addicts became self-employed construction workers or painters, because that was all they could manage with heroin, and often jail, in their lives” (274), which is a major problem America faces when trying to solve the opiate epidemic. If we educate the states about the addiction rates and potential danger of opiates, public opinion could shift, creating alternate solutions to solving the heroin epidemic in America. In order to lower the amount of opiate addicts the stigma that used to be associated with opiate use needs to return. The fear that used to surround opiate use was one of the only reasons opiates were not used as medication. As long as opiates are being used as a way to physically and mentally escape from pain, America will continue to suffer from opiate

Addiction today is no longer confided to the alley 's, but instead is in our neighborhoods and our homes. Addiction professionals more frequently recommend opium treatment that involves a short and intense period of detox, but

Opioids include legal prescription drug like morphine, oxycodone and also includes illegal street drugs like heroin. Opioid are generally safe when taken for a short amount of time and is prescribed by a doctor, it becomes a problem when they are misused. They can be misused when they are taken a different way or in a larger quantity than prescribed. Opioid pain relievers can lead to overdose incidents and deaths. Opioid addiction is becoming a widespread problem not only in Michigan especially in the Detroit area, but all over the United States. The different papers that could be address are how the misuse of opioids can affect professional careers such as police officers or doctors, how it is affecting families, why there has been an increase in the misuse of

Resting on the border of Palm Beach and Broward Counties is the nondescript community of Deerfield Beach, Florida (FL). This quiet community has plenty of beach access as well as several large planned residential communities. It also has its fair share of issues related to drug abuse and addiction.

In James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues, Baldwin writes about an unnamed narrator and his younger brother during the Harlem Renaissance. The narrator is essentially stable in life, whereas his younger brother, who is a very talented yet troubled jazz musician, sells and abuses heroin and goes to prison early in the story. Due to the younger brother, Sonny, heroin addiction the two brothers are not as close as one thinks. The theme in this story got me wondering how heroin addiction affects families. I have decided to research this topic to answer how heroin affects children born to heroin-addicted mothers, how heroin affects the families of addicts, how it affects the addicts relationship with their families, and the acts of intervention and sobering which are just a few of the most intriguing questions to me.

Throughout the last few years a very dangerous drug has burst into mainstream attention, heroin. All throughout the country, there are numerous people suffering from addiction to the drug, and even dying. Heroin is a highly addictive drug that is relatively cheap and in many places, easy to find. In many big cities, it seems that almost everyone knows someone who has been on heroin, or a mutual acquaintance of a user. Numerous organizations have their opinions on how to stop the epidemic from spreading before it reaches an even vaster number of people. With that being said, not all of these options are effective. Some argue the viewpoint that users should be jailed until they learn the consequences of what they have done; while other disagree

First Paragraph: The use of homes and more importantly family homes as main drug spots combine the private nature of family hood with the public facing drug-trade business. This affects the identity of the young children in the household as they are forced into the drug business. Their identity follows along with their parents and they have a hard time getting themselves away from this mold.