A Nationwide Drug Epidemic

A Nation Wide Drug Epidemic

An article printed from the New York Times offered several stories of people directly impacted by the opioid epidemic from the eastern parts of our nation to the far west portions.  Drugs, more specifically, heroin is coming across the US border from Mexico.  The cheaply made drug is concealed in vehicle engines, specially made compartments, suitcases, squeezed into hollowed out fire extinguishers, or strapped to the person who is trying to cross the border into America.  Anything that happens to slip by without getting caught travels down the highways and interstates to all parts of the US (Brauner, 2017). 

Have you ever heard of a “pill mill”?  I had not until this article mentioned there are bad doctors who hand prescription opioids out like candy.  Heroin smuggled into the US is also handed out in these “pill mills”.  Drug abuse has reached the point that in 2015, deaths as a result of drug overdose surpassed deaths as a result of gun violence (Brauner, 2017).

Katie Harvey, age 24, has been in and out of rehab eight times battling her heroin habit.  At this point, she is not shooting up to get a high.  She has to shoot up to avoid becoming dope sick.  Katie went from being an honor roll student in high school with model worthy features to an anorexic, alcoholic, who decided to try heroin for the first time at 21.  She mentioned she shoots up as many as 15 times a day.  Her drugs of choice include heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl.  She has pawned her mother’s jewelry and had sex with men for money to help support her drug habit (Brauner, 2017).

In another story, a man who wished to not be named was trying to get treatment for his drug addiction that has been a major expense on his life and finances.  This was his third time in rehab at just 33 years old.  He has a college education and is the son of two therapists. The young man mentioned he had previously smoked pot, used ecstasy and cocaine.  It was during his college years someone offered him heroin for the first time.  He smoked it once and quickly developed a habit costing about $20,000 a month to support (Brauner, 2017).

These are just the stories of a couple people directly impacted by the use and abuse of prescription opioids and heroin.  I think the author of this article did a great job removing personal bias by providing statistics and addressing that the opioid epidemic affects men and women all across the nation.  Allowing them to tell their personal stories about the struggles with opioid abuse makes for a more impacting read.

Reference:

Brauner, Scott. M. (2017). Inside a killer drug epidemic: a look at America’s opioid crisis. New            York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/us/opioid-crisis-epidemic.html