Heroin Epidemic Now Affecting 3 States In The US

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Heroin Epidemic
Heroin Epidemic

Health officials in three US states (Kentucky, New Jersey, and Indiana) are sending out a warning that the US may be on the brink of a full blown heroin epidemic.  Heroin use has risen to staggering rates in certain areas, and it doesn’t appear to be slowing anytime soon.

Heroin, an illegal opiate drug often injected into the body via syringe needle, has been responsible for the deaths of millions worldwide.  In more recent history, a heroin overdose was the cause of death for actors Heath Ledger and Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

The International Business Times reports today in an article entitled “US Heroin Epidemic: Growing Rates Of Addiction And Overdose Reported In New Jersey, Kentucky, Indiana” (Source):

A growing heroin epidemic is impacting states across the U.S. as local and federal health officials in Indiana, Kentucky and New Jersey report rising levels of addiction to the drug. In the areas hardest hit by the epidemic, crime rates are rising, and lives and families are being torn apart. Heroin is used by people from all socioeconomic levels, these officials say, and many of them initially become addicted to drugs through prescription pain medication.

heroin

The heroin epidemic is so severe in northern Kentucky that the new director for national drug control policy, Michael Botticelli, paid a visit to the region Thursday to promote awareness. The number of heroin overdoses has tripled there in the last three years alone, and Botticelli blamed the high numbers of heroin addiction on the overprescription of pain medications. Overall, the state has the third-highest rate of death from drug overdoses, primarily from prescription drugs.

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Indiana has been battling a heroin epidemic for at least a year, though the seriousness of the epidemic varies from area to area. In some cities, health officials say the heroin epidemic has only worsened since first responders began raising the issue about two years ago. Children call 911 because parents have overdosed, the Indianapolis Star reported, and one person was found comatose in the restroom of a fast-food restaurant in Indianapolis shortly after buying heroin. These kinds of events occur every day, local paramedics told the Star.

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“They’ll almost always tell you the problem started out with pain pills,” Kevin Lloyd, a paramedic in Castleton, Indiana, said. He said overdoses have grown in frequency in the past few years and that the drug is also more powerful than it used to be.

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In New Jersey, heroin overdoses killed 557 people in 2013 — nearly twice as many as in 2010. Arrests also occur seemingly daily, if not more often. On Wednesday, New Jersey police arrested four people in Lacey after seeing what they suspected were drug deals and later finding 36 bags of heroin stashed in a child’s safety seat in a car, Patch New Jersey reported. The ages of people arrested ranged from 24 to 31. The same day, about 70 miles away in Roselle Park, New Jersey, police arrested two people after finding heroin, needles and other drug paraphernalia on them, the Independent Press reported.

Royce Christyn

Royce Christyn

Journalist at News Punch
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Royce Christyn

1 Comment

  1. I think one of the reasons is that people get get addicted,and that often get’s confused with tolerance. How do you know if a person is just taking more because they want to or there are taking more because they’ve built up tolerance and physicians don’t adjust for that and just assume they’ve become addicted. then refuse to prescribe more, so people save up a bunch of pills or doctor shop and overdose because they can’t judge how much is too much. Doctors could fix this if they required the patient to come in each time they need a dose. Open centers that make it convenient and where they can more carefully monitored and let them be addicted as a last resort, but make sure they don’t take too much. There are also cases when physicians freak out and under proscribe, and drive people go out and get Heroin which isn’t checked for potency and has other adulterants in it. What you may be seeing here is a basic What came first argument the chicken or the egg. Me personally I rather overdose then spend a life in pain. We just need to find away to monitor it more carefully and not over prescribe and most importantly under prescribe and force people to get drugs illegally. If their illness is fatal anyway who cares if they are addicted, if their in constant pain. Treat their addiction best you can but if they fail. Let them be addicted, but protect them from overdosing.

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