What is heroin/Opioids?
Heroin is an illegal substance that’s
affecting a large number of diverse communities all over the world. According to The National Institute on Drug Abuse
(NIDA), Heroin is an opioid drug made from morphine, a natural substance taken
from the seed pod of the various opium poppy plants grown in Southeast and
Southwest Asia, Mexico, and Colombia. Heroin can be a white or brown powder, or
a black sticky substance known as black tar heroin. Other common names for
heroin include big H, horse, hell dust, and smack.
NIDA states, that every day, more
than 90 Americans die after overdosing on opioids. Opioids are a class of drugs that include the
illegal drug heroin, synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, and pain relievers
available legally by prescription, such as oxycodone (OxyContin), hydrocodone
(Vicodin) codeine, morphine, and many others. Then the crazy part is that there
are doctors that are prescribing these meds to individuals for extended periods
of time which then leads to an addiction. When patients are cut from their opioids
trying to go without them causes one to go through vital withdraws that are
unbearable for most. The withdraws are the same or very similar to the withdraws
that heroin addicts endure. This is why studies show that these meds are
gateway drugs to heroin when misused.
According to the Center of Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) drug overdose deaths and opioid-involved deaths
continue to increase in the United States. The majority of drug overdose deaths
(66%) involve an opioid. In 2016, the number of overdose deaths involving
opioids (including prescription opioids and heroin) was 5 times higher than in
1999. From 2000 to 2016, more than 600,000 people died from drug overdoses. These
numbers aren’t even alarming to addicts. When they hear of an overdose they
want to know where the drugs were purchased for them to assure that they’re
getting “the good stuff”.
What became alarming to me is that
naloxone is now in all schools from elementary to high schools. Naloxone/Narcan
is a drug that is used to reverse the effects of a drug overdose cause by
opioids. When I became a health assistant for school health we were trained to
use Naloxone in the case of an emergency. This one or double dose container
price range from 20-150 dollars in cost, but is given out like candy although
for a good cause in a sense. If you have family members or friends that are
addicts you should look into being trained to carry Naloxone, the way the world
is today you never know when you may have to use it.
