Heroin and Its Deadly Addiction
By: Nicholas Dessanti
What Interests Me About This Topic
History
Diacetylmorphine or Heroin was first synthesized in 1874 by C. R. Alder Wright, an English chemist working at St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London. He had been experimenting with combining morphine with various acids.
Biology Behind This Addiction
People become addicted to heroin because of the feeling i gives them and they want to feel it again and again. The problem is that your body becomes more and more tolerant, which means you have to take more of the heroin for your body to experience the same rush.
Treatments
The two treatments available for heroin addicts are Pharmacological Treatment or Medications and Behavioral Therapies. Both of these treatments help to restore a degree of normalcy to brain function and behavior, resulting in increased employment rates and lower risk of HIV and other diseases and criminal behavior. I think it is very important for people to know that no single treatment is appropriate for everyone.
Statistics (2015)
- 24.6 million people 12 or older (9.4% of the population) live with substance dependence or abuse
- 1.9 million Americans live with prescription opioid abuse or dependence, while 517,000 Americans live with heroin addiction
- Opioid addiction disease occurs in every American State, County, socio-economic and ethnic group
- 23% of heroin users develop chronic opioid addiction disease
- 5,927 people died after using heroin in 2012 and that number jumped to 8,260 deaths in 2013 (latest numbers available)
Impacts
Repeated heroin use changes the physical structure and physiology of the brain, creating long-term imbalances in neuronal and hormonal systems that are hard to reverse.
Once a person becomes addicted to heroin, seeking and using the drug becomes their primary purpose in life.
With physical dependence, the body adapts to the presence of the drug and withdrawal symptoms occur if use is reduced abruptly.
Interesting Facts
- Health risks to using heroin include: Fatal overdose, High risk of infections such as HIV/AIDS, Collapsed veins, Infection of the heart lining and valves, Liver disease
- Heroin was first manufactured in 1898 by the Bayer pharmaceutical company of Germany and marketed as a treatment for tuberculosis as well as a remedy for morphine addiction
- After an addiction has been formed to this drug, it can be very expensive to maintain. At the height of someone who is trying to live with this addiction, it may cost them $250 per day to support their habit.
Works Cited
"11 Facts About Heroin." 11 Facts About Heroin. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2015. <https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-heroin>.
"Heroin Deaths Increase for the Third Year in a Row - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2015. <http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/14/health/heroin-deaths-increase/>.
"History of Heroin." Narconon International. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2015. <http://www.narconon.org/drug-information/heroin-history.html>.
"What Are the Treatments for Heroin Addiction?" What Are the Treatments for Heroin Addiction? N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2015. <http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/heroin/what-are-treatments-heroin-addiction>.