...The Drug Heroin and its Effect on Families Ramona C. Malone COM/172-Elements of University Composition and Communication II University of Phoenix September 15, 2014 The Drug Heroin and its Effect on Families As a very common known street drug, heroin has become the drug that destroys many families in the United States. Due to the fact that Heroin has become the more accessible drug, it is causing more and more people addicted? Heroin addiction has become extremely dangerous in today’s society to both young and old. Americans need to get a handle on this and develop sometime of intervention to help family members who have become addicted to Heroin. Without help to become free of Heroin the outcome could be a very sad on for all involved. Heroin and its impact has affected all parts of the United States and not just selecting today’s wealthy Society, but as well as so many of our urban areas (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2012). Heroin has been identified as one of the most used and sought after drug by any addict of recent years (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2012). Heroin is one of the fastest acting drugs which will give its users an immediate rush, making the body relaxed and with the sense of less pain. Whether it be emotional or physical pain a user is trying to decrease, they enjoy the fast acting rush. (Christensen, CNN, 2014). Once a person is starting to obtain the help to no longer take Heroin they can and will experience...
Words: 1672 - Pages: 7
...Heroin Addiction Psyc 305 B-03 June 15, 2015 Abstract: This paper will serve to provide information about heroin addiction in our society. Heroin addiction is an epidemic problem in the United States and is growing every year. Factors such as genetics and environmental factors will be discussed as they relate to heroin addicts. Trends with prescription pain medication and their effects on heroin use will be discussed. This paper will also highlight the prevalence of heroin in the United States. Heroin affects different groups of people in all walks of life. Treatment for heroin will be discussed in the latter portion of this paper. This will highlight different options to fit specific needs. Addiction: a physical dependency on a substance (Doweiko, 2015), a chronic brain disease that causes compulsive substance use despite harmful consequences, (Addiction, 2015). There is no universally accepted way to define addiction. It seems that it is easier to qualify behavior as an addiction than it is to define the word itself. For the purpose of this paper we will use the four general categories of the DSM-5 to help identify and understand heroin addiction. This paper will serve to provide information about heroin addiction’s possible causes, prevalence and treatment. What causes heroin addiction? The causes of heroin addiction are not clear. As with most drugs it is thought that the user is trying to feel better or self-medicate...
Words: 1591 - Pages: 7
...Heroin is an illicit drug classified as an opiate derived from morphine after it has been refined from the Asian poppy. Heroin is known for its strong pain relief characteristics. Heroin’s medicinal name is diamorphine (National Institute of Health, 2013). According to Foundation For A Drug-Free World (2013), The Truth About Heroin, street names for Heroin are too many to list, but the following are a few examples: Horse, ‘H’, Smack, Heavy Stuff, Brother, Chick, China White, Judas, and Mr. Brown. Heroin typically presents as a powder form ranging in colors from white, gray, yellow, or brown. It can also be refined into a thick stick tar-like substance also street named “black tar” (National Institute of Health, 2013). Heroin is an illicit drug classified as an opiate derived from morphine after it has been refined from the Asian poppy. Heroin is known for its strong pain relief characteristics. Heroin’s medicinal name is diamorphine (National Institute of Health, 2013). According to Foundation For A Drug-Free World (2013), The Truth About Heroin, street names for Heroin are too many to list, but the following are a few examples: Horse, ‘H’, Smack, Heavy Stuff, Brother, Chick, China White, Judas, and Mr. Brown. Heroin typically presents as a powder form ranging in colors from white, gray, yellow, or brown. It can also be refined into a thick stick tar-like substance also street named “black tar” (National Institute of Health, 2013). Heroin Addiction Heroin...
Words: 826 - Pages: 4
...have linked the increase in heroin use to the increase in opioid pain prescriptions, along with heroin’s cheaper cost and increased availability (CDC, 2017). To prevent heroin addiction from forming, it has been instructed that health professionals revise when and how much opioid pain prescriptions are prescribed to patients (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA], 2016). To prevent the scope of the heroin epidemic in the Northern Shenandoah Valley there are drug collection units throughout, including in Winchester and Berryville (NSVAC, 2016). The goal is to decrease the availability of unused prescription pain medication. This may prevent opioid abuse from beginning in teenagers and young...
Words: 1201 - Pages: 5
...Baltimore: A Community in Crisis Since the 19th century, the illicit drug, heroin, has been a part of American society. When heroin was first discovered it was thought to be a wonder drug because of the euphoric feeling a person is said to feel after using it. However, once the debilitating effects of this highly addictive drug was realized the anti-drug law, the Harrison Narcotics Act, was enacted that restricted its use to medicinal purposes only. In 1920, heroin was banned altogether through the Dangerous Drug Act (Habal, 2011). Heroin for the most part was thought to have gone underground until the Vietnam War. In 1971, two congressmen returned from visiting U. S. servicemen serving in Vietnam with an alarming revelation that “15 percent of U.S. servicemen in Vietnam… were actively addicted to heroin” (Spiegel, 2012, para. 3). The idea that American servicemen were addicted to such a horrible drug disgusted much of the American public. “It was thought to be the most addictive substance ever produced, a narcotic so powerful that once addiction claimed you, it was nearly impossible to escape” (Spiegel, 2012, para. 4). President Richard Nixon took swift action by creating, The Special Action Office of Drug Abuse Prevention which concentrated primarily on prevention and rehabilitation. In the late 70s and early 80s the use of heroin reached its peak when it seemed to take a backseat to the reappearance of cocaine and the subsequent crack epidemic that overwhelmed much...
Words: 3488 - Pages: 14
...Killer Heroin Drug consumption is one of the most discussed and analyzed topics in society, literature, and scientific works. Drug use and abuse has persistently puzzled researchers, scientists, and law makers. During the last twenty years scientists have continued performing experiments, researchers have continued to research drug abuse and use, and law makers have continued to create new laws in hopes of regulating drug use. Drug specialists and scientists have developed an assortment of methodologies for fighting ever-increasing drug consumption and law enforcement have made many attempts at gaining control of the drug trade. In order to narrow down the extent of drug use and abuse, focus will be placed on one particular drug – heroin. During the course of this essay we are going to investigate the history of heroin from its beginnings to present day. Next we will investigate the evolution of heroin. Lastly we will focus on what makes it so addicting and why so many people choose to use it. What is heroin? Why is the death rate from using this drug increasing every year? Heroin comes from opium. Opium is a milky white liquid that is extracted from immature poppy plants. Two opiates, codeine and morphine, are found in this milky white liquid and are used for pain medication today (MacKinnon, 2007). Heroin was synthesized from morphine in 1874 by an English chemist, but was not produced commercially until 1898 by Bayer Pharmaceutical Company...
Words: 1727 - Pages: 7
... Eventually, addiction causes the lives of individuals to spiral downward in a desperate search to regain the sense of balance and pleasure that their addiction initially gave them. This downward spiral either leads to recovery or continued hopelessness and eventual death. Director Darren Aronofsky's 2000 film "Requiem for a Dream" illustrates this idea perfectly as this work chronicles this descending spiral experienced by its characters. For example, as the movie opens, a housewife is in the process of chaining her television to a radiator. This is because she is trying to prevent her son from using it to get the money he needs to support his drug habit. The housewife's efforts fail, as her son frees it and then wheels it down the street to a pawnshop (Ebert, 2000). All of the characters engage in desperate acts to support their addiction. Harry and his best friend Tyrone obtain a large amount of heroin, believing that the profit from selling it will make them rich. However, their behavior is disinhibited because they use so much of it themselves that they wind up using more of it than they sell (Bowers, 2010). Marion, Harry's girlfriend, prostitutes herself to support her heroin addiction and winds up not only losing Harry, but also her sense of self (Bowers, 2010). Marion plays a key role in enabling heroin addiction, not only for her, but also for Tyrone and Harry, as it is her prostitution that supplies the money needed to obtain the pound of heroin on which their...
Words: 1015 - Pages: 5
...Keira Martin June 30th 2013 Drug Addiction Com/156 Thesis Statement Drug addiction is becoming an epidemic in the United States about 570,000 people die annually due to drug use. Prescription drugs have been the leading cause of addiction; this is a disease that needs to be addressed Drug Addiction People believe drugs will help them feel better and others are just experimenting and figure one try won't get them addicted. Most teens and even adults use drugs because they're depressed or think it will help them just get away from their everyday problems. Truth is, drugs will not solve a problem or a bunch of problems, they simply hide feelings and problems for those few moments that the high lasts. When a drug wears off the feelings are still there sometimes more intense than before. Drugs can ruin every part of a person's life. Drug abuse has many ways of effecting the person and society. Ways of addressing drug abuse have become more advocating over the last decade because of an increase in the level of awareness on the effects of drug abuse on the individual, community and the society. The Schools internet and social media are all being used to point out the drug abuse that is developing into more of a social problem. Heroin is becoming an epidemic; heroin was first manufactured in 1898 through the Bayer Pharmaceutical Company of Germany. Heroin was first marketed as the treatment...
Words: 1167 - Pages: 5
...names, such as, ice, crank, crystal, glass, and speed. Most of these names are derived from the way it looks. It appears as crystals. Meth can be taken by snorting, smoking, injecting, or by dissolving it in water or alcohol. According to "National Institute on Drug Abuse" (2010), “Methamphetamine’s ability to release dopamine rapidly in reward regions of the brain produces the intense euphoria, or “rush,” that many users feel after snorting, smoking, or injecting the drug.” This aids to the addiction process. For those that chronically abuse methamphetamines, their brain will undergo changes in the way it functions. These changes include both cognitive, emotional and memory issues. The side effects associated with taking meth include increased wakefulness, increased physical activity, decreased appetite, increased respiration, rapid heart rate, irregular heartbeat, increased blood pressure, and hyperthermia ("National Institute on Drug Abuse", 2010). Long term meth use can lead to extreme weight loss, severe dental problems (“meth mouth”), anxiety, confusion, insomnia, mood disturbances, violent behavior, paranoia, visual and auditory hallucinations, and delusions("National Institute on Drug Abuse", 2010). Any chronic drug user will suffer withdrawal symptoms when they have stopped taking the drug. These can begin hours or days after they stop. Withdrawal symptoms for those taking methamphetamines are the inability to feel pleasure. This doesn’t sound nearly...
Words: 1432 - Pages: 6
...What is substance abuse Substance abuse refers to the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs. Psychoactive substance use can lead to dependence syndrome a cluster of behavioral, cognitive, and physiological phenomena that develop after repeated substance use and that typically include a strong desire to take the drug, difficulties in controlling its use, persisting in its use despite harmful consequences, increased tolerance, and sometimes a physical withdrawal state . What happens to the brain during addiction? The first time an individual takes drugs is usually a voluntary decision. With continued...
Words: 2024 - Pages: 9
...Heroin Abuse: Reaching to the Suburban Youth The best driving force to get informed and motivated about a certain topic is a personal experience and my motivation came when one of my best friends passed away from a heroin overdose. Almost exactly a year ago, this friend of mine passed away from a heroin overdose and none of his close friends or family even knew the problem had escalated so greatly. It had all started with a pill addiction to xanax that slowly grew more severe but with a few interventions and a couple of trips to rehab, most of us thought that he was doing well and had kicked the habit. Little did we know that he had kicked the xanax habit only to graduate to something as intense as heroin. The frightening thing about this drug is that my friend was a small, upper class, Jewish boy from the suburbs of St. Louis and would not typically be the image you think of when a person might think of a heroin addict. He was the furthest thing from an underprivileged, poor, inner city adult. But addict hew was, and it is still somewhat of a mystery to those who were closest to him as to how he was able to access his drugs. For every person that believes they know the true meaning of the word “addiction,” there is another person right beside them to argue a different point of view. In this day and age, one would think that doctors or scientists or psychologists would have narrowed it down to a universal description but this is not the case. There are many different...
Words: 1740 - Pages: 7
...Being an addict or becoming an addict to something, for instance, drugs can consume someone’s life. This subject is very puzzling in the medical world. Being an addict means that a person is “reliant on a substance or behavior that the individual has little power to resist (NIDA).” If a person has an already predisposed personality to becoming addicted to something, then that addiction can consume the person’s actions and every thought. An addictive personality is referred to as a particular set of personality traits that can make an individual predisposed to addictions. Two types of addictions are substance-abuse addictions and behavioral-based addictions. In substance abuse addictions, dopamine is released in the brain due to the usage of the drug. This causes a range of sensations to happen, producing a euphoric event, making the addict to feel this sensation again, leading to drug abuse. It creates a compulsive need for the drug and craving the drug badly that when the drug isn’t administered could lead to withdrawals. On the other hand, the behavioral addictions are similar to the substance abuse addictions, expect that the individual is more addicted to the behavior associated with drug use rather than being addicted to the substance. A “high” or euphoric event still happens with behavioral abusers, forcing the brain to crave that “high” again, blocking out any negative consequences that happen when using the drug. The need to repeatedly go through the drug experience, to get...
Words: 1328 - Pages: 6
...Alcohol and Drug Addiction Liberty University Abstract This paper is a reflection of addiction in the United States and the statistics that prove addiction is a major issue within the country. Discussed in the paper will be first the primary causes of addiction and risk factors that may lead to an addiction in an individual. Going further into the problem, the cycle of addiction and how to break free of the cycle and an individual’s addiction is talked about. Since there are different drugs that can cause addiction, a breakdown of certain drugs is given. These drugs include alcohol, prescription drugs, heroin, and marijuana. Next, the side effects of drug addiction to the drugs chosen are described in depth as well as the signs that can be viewed in screening for drug addiction. Resources available to drug addiction are touched on and treatment options to explore what can be done if an individual does suffer from drug addiction. Finally, what human service professionals are doing to assist individuals who are addicted and how they can improve on training to ensure that addiction can be caught early enough to make a difference? Introduction to Drug Addiction Addiction is a chronic disease of brain reward, motivation and memory in individuals who submit to any number of different drugs available to them. Such chronic need for the drugs leads to manifestations biologically, psychologically, spiritually and even socially in any given individual (ASAM, 2014). These, however...
Words: 3725 - Pages: 15
...Historical Events Affecting Addictions One big event that affected addictions treatment is the Vietnam War. In 1970, half of enlisted soldiers had experience with illicit drugs but only 30% of those had tried anything aside from marijuana. Barbituates and Amphetamines were the most commonly tried drugs. Only 11% had tried Opiates and cough syrup containing codeine was the most common Opiate that had been tried. The soldiers in Vietnam were either drafted by lottery or had enlisted voluntarily. Forty percent of those who had enlisted voluntarily were school dropouts who had limited job opportunities and considerably more drug experience. Heroin and opium was widely available, relatively cheap, and so pure that it could be smoked rather than injected for those who were reluctant to inject it. By 1971, half of soldiers had tried heroin and half had used enough to develop an addiction. In the spring of 1971 it was discovered that 15% of United State servicemen were returning from service already addicted to heroin. The Armed Forces was coping with the staggering numbers with military discipline and amnesty. Those who were found to be using or possessing drugs were court martialed and given a dishonorable discharge. Users that voluntarily sought help may be offered amnesty and brief treatment. This did not make much of a difference and usage increased dramatically over the next year and a half. While the US was trying to negotiate a settlement of the war, soldiers...
Words: 1114 - Pages: 5
...The Effects of Addiction on Adolescent Development Adolescence is a time where there is growth and maturity. It is also a time where adolescents are more prone to take risks, such as using and abusing drugs. Whether or not an adolescent chooses to engage in drug use and abuse depends on their home environment and those they choose to associate themselves with. Adolescents face an enormous amount of pressure to participate in risky behaviors from their peers. According to Broderick and Blewitt (2015), “risky behaviors are behaviors that constitute a departure from socially accepted norms or behaviors that pose a threat to the well-being of individuals or groups” (p. 389). One such risky behavior is drug use and addiction. Some adolescents use...
Words: 1296 - Pages: 6
