Heroin_Addiction

The Tragedy of Heroin Addiction I chose the topic of heroin addiction mainly because a close friend of mine passed away last year of a heroin overdose. More then anything I would love to find out as much information as I can to help prevent others from following his path. I also want to understand what he went through, and the reasons were that he couldn’t break the habit no matter how hard he tried. I want to understand and pass on the dangers of heroin use, and the damage that it can cause to not only yourself, but also friends and family around you. This topic is important to the field of human development because heroin, along with several other drugs, are rapidly becoming one of the biggest killers of teenagers today. These silent killers are becoming easier, and cheaper to obtain and the risks are growing just as quickly. I believe that it is important that the field of human development work hard with the drug enforcement agencies to make sure people get all of the facts about heroin and these other common drugs. Its significance is important to help make sure that people know the consequences of their actions if they are to try these drugs, and how dangerous they actually are. This paper will contribute to the field of human development in many of the same ways that it is significant to the field. I hope to pass on the information that I have learned to other people in hopes that it will stop them from using heroin. I want to pass on the information that I have learned about the dangers and effects of this very dangerous drug. In turn I hope this information will benefit other human beings by keeping them clean and alive. The first article that I will be using is called "The Tragedy of Heroin Addiction" written by Curtis P. McMaster. Curtis P McMaster is a primary counselor at the Institute for Human Development, a substance abuse rehabilitation center in New Jersey, so I find that the information in this article is relevant and accurate. The article itself gives brief descriptions of McMaster and of heroin itself, and then continues to describe the conditions in a place known as the "Badlands." This is referring to the Ghetto in North Philadelphia; where some of the countries worst drug problems exist, including excessive amounts of heroin. This article is written in first perspective because McMaster himself is a recovering heroin addict and knows how dangerous this substance can be. He then continues to describe additional problems and possible solutions that people can do to help out friends and family members that are addicted to heroin or anything else for that matter. (McMaster) The second article that I have included is called “Heroin is Addictive” written by the National Institute on Drug Abuse which I also to find to be a substantial enough source to cite from. This article is very informative and full of facts about heroin and its abuse. It includes a background of the drug including all of its forms from a snorted powder to a injected liquid. It provides a brief history of where it came from and how it got to the streets of the United States, and statistics on American usage. A large section of the article also describes the dangers besides the drug itself involved with heroin usage. Several blood transferred life-threatening diseases included Hepatitis and HIV can be transferred through needle sharing. Also when the drug is “cut” or broken down into a usable substance in can be mixed or laced with many different chemicals that can be fatal. Users have no idea how potent the heroin actually is until they have used the substance making it extremely easy to “overdose.” Long Term effects and medical complications are also included giving a very detailed overview of heroin and how dangerous it really is. (National Institute on Drug Abuse) A third article that I found extremely helpful is called “The Highest of Highs: My Addiction to Heroin” written by Caroline and published by Gary L. Somdahl. This article is about a first hand experience by Caroline on how easy it is to be addicted to heroin and how difficult it is to break that addiction. The article goes into detail on the reasons that she decided to try experimenting, how she went from one gateway drug to the next constantly looking for a higher high. She describes that as she continued to find harder and harder drugs her tolerance grew making her crave a high potency placing her at substantial risk for overdose or serious medical complications. She describes how her family was affected when she finally asked for help, and how she got the help that she needed to become clean. (Somdahl) The last source that I will including in my Literature Review is a speech by Donna Shalala delivered at the National Institute for Drug Abuse conference in Washington D.C., called “A Comprehensive Strategy for Preventing Teen Heroin Abuse.” The main point of this article is to describe what we can do to stop heroin from getting into the hands of American citizens and American teens. Several strategies are described including increasing law enforcement patrols for drug enforcement and increasing jail terms and sentences for drug users and sellers. Also increasing funding for heroin and drug research to try and find ways to help people who are already addicted rid themselves of this terrible disease. This also includes a large Anti-Drug message campaign to get the information out about the affects of heroin to try and stop this problem before it starts with teens and children. (Donna) I received information from the family of the friend that passed away from the heroin overdose in the form of a story. There experience having a son addicted to such a terrible drug. I gathered this information by simply just speaking with them about the last year that their son was alive, and I will share small parts of his life in the paper to help emphasize that tragedy that this drug can bring upon family and people. Heroin is a highly addictive drug that is derived from the opium plant, and from morphine. It is most often found in a white tar-like or powdered substance and can be used in several different ways. It can be injected which is the most common way, smoked with a special type of pipe or inhaled through the nose. The list of side effects involved with this drug is huge including collapsed veins, infection of the lining of the heart or valves, and can cause pneumonia from weakening of the immune system. That is only a very small portion of the list full of life threatening side effects. After injection uses report feeling a quick “rush” which is similar to the drug morphine that is used in hospitals to numb or eliminate pain. Heroin acts similar to morphine by binding with opioid receptors. The intensity of the rush depends on how much of the drug enters the blood stream, and is very addiction because of how quickly it reaches and affects the brain. For several hours after the drug enters the blood the user will seem very clouded and out of it, while the drug is still effecting the central nervous system. Breathing and other body functions are slowed dramatically, sometimes to the point of death. Estimated in the millions, heroin users are finding it more and more dangerous to get pure heroin, as it is being mixed or “laced” with many other household chemicals to make it easier and cheaper to produce. This also makes the drug even more unsafe to use, as the ingredients are unspecified. Some cases reported that the drug had been cut with rat poison and other similar very harmful substances. Not only is the chemicals in the drugs harmful to the body, but also the ways that it is used. Like many injected drugs, sharing needles or using dirty needles can be extremely dangerous and risk transferring diseases such as HIV, Hepatitis and other blood borne pathogens. When listening to the story from my friends family, much of the information that I had learned before I spoke with them aligned with what they were saying. They first new that he was addicted when they noticed that he seemed numb constantly. He seemed very out of it, and lost interest in many activities that he once loved. He also seemed to be spending insane amounts of money with nothing to show for it. It was several months before they approached him about his addiction, and shortly after he overdosed for the first time. After taking him to the hospital, they placed him on several different drugs to try and ease his addiction and help him get off of the drug. It was these drugs, that thinned his blood, and made the typical amount of heroin that he normally injected be enough to stop his heart. After all of my information was collected and compared to the information from others, much of the information was the same or similar. The dangers and the damage that was described in many of the papers and pieces of literature were brought to reality when all of the information affected the people that I care about. The pain and the hurt that was only words in all of the literature, I felt first hand when his friends and me lowered his body into the ground. I could see all of the devastation that the information described in the eyes of his family. I realized that before I experienced this first hand, all of the information in the world didn’t affect people like being there first hand. After that experience I believe that so much needs to be done that hasn’t. We need to come up with new ways to get the information across to even the kids that are not interested. There are countless articles and pieces of information strung across the Internet explaining the damaging effects of this drug on the body, but that doesn’t mean that the information is going to reach the people that it needs to. The information needs to be unveiled; the people need to see just how damaging these drugs can be. The media tends to hide the dramatic side to subjects like these, which sends a false statement across the world. The truth needs to be everywhere, in every thing that kids can get their hands on. The facts and information about the dangers and damage that is done by this drug to not only you, but your friends and family need to be passed on. Sources Cited McMaster, Curtis P. "The Tragedy of Heroin Addiction." At Issue: Heroin. Ed. Helen Cothran. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2001. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Clark College - Cannell Library. 27 May. 2008 National Institute on Drug Abuse. "Heroin Is Addictive." Opposing Viewpoints: Drug Abuse. Ed. Tamara L. Roleff. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Clark College - Cannell Library. 27 May. 2008 Shalala, Donna. "A Comprehensive Strategy for Preventing Teen Heroin Abuse." Contemporary Issues Companion: Teen Addiction. Ed. Shasta Gaughen. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2002. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Clark College - Cannell Library. 27 May. 2008 Somdahl, Caroline, and Gary. "The Highest of Highs: My Addiction to Heroin." Contemporary Issues Companion: Teen Addiction. Ed. Shasta Gaughen. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2002. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Clark College - Cannell Library. 27 May. 2008