Heroin in the Suburbs

Heroin in the Suburbs

Illegal drugs are chemical or other substances that are ingested to create a mind-altering affect. People use illegal drug for a variety of reasons. There are many different types of drugs out there like hallucinogens, cannabis, narcotics, and depressants (just to name a few). Although there are a number of illegal drugs out there, a narcotic called heroin is one of the more serious problems in American suburbs.

Heroin was thought to be safe and non-addictive when it was first introduced in 1898 as a cough medicine. It was then later used to save people from morphine and opium addictions (Silverstein 54). Eventually, people started to realize that heroin was twice as addictive as the most powerful morphine. Just a couple years later, laws were passes against the highly addictive heroin, which made it an illegal drug.

Heroin is considered a narcotic because it is a drug that contains opium. It is produced from an Asian poppy plant and usually appears as a white or brown powder. Some of the most common street names referring to heroin include: "smack", "dope", "skag", "horse", "H", and "junk". Even though injecting the drug is the most popular way to use it, more and more cases of snorting and smoking it are coming about (Silverstein 13). A lot of people use heroin to fit in, relieve stress and emotional problems, experiment, and to escape from the world around them.

When on heroin, people feel a pleasurable high because it blocks the pain receptors in the spine and the brain. But with this pleasurable high, comes some side-affects. Heroin side-affects can be as minor as flu-like symptoms, or as major as full out addiction and total dependence for the drug. It is the most addicting drug being used today. "All it takes is one time and you are hooked. Once you begin, it is very hard to stop; it becomes a lifestyle." (Silverstein 59).

The drug is becoming problem in suburban areas. Anyone can find it on the streets, in the best and worst areas. Over the years, use of heroin in the suburbs has been growing. By 1971, heroin became the most popular illicit drug among young people. It is used all over, by all different types of people, but is predominantly used my middle-class and upper-class young white people (Ashton 66). A few years back, the inner cities was the spot for heroin users. Now, the illegal drug is rapidly making it's was up to the country's suburbs. So, some people ask what area has the most heroin users: the inner cities or suburbs? The only reliable sources to find out that information is, free clinics, police reports, and institutions that heroin users turn to when they find out that they are hooked. These institutions and clinics report the heroin addictions that rapidly rise in certain neighborhoods.

A nation-wide study shows that heroin, which has been a longtime problem in America's inner-cities, is becoming a very big problem in suburban areas. In big areas like Atlanta, Philadelphia, and New Jersey, shows the number of city-dwelling heroin users treated each year has dropped by half, while the number treat from the suburban areas has tripled (Brecher).

Analysts say that people in the suburbs are less aware than city-dwellers about addiction and diseases related to heroin. The study suggested that a new generation of heroin users has come about.

Government agencies and treatment clinics have reported a major increase in heroin use among white suburban teens in the last decade. "Heroin is back, it's cheaper, more potent, and is easier than ever to get in the suburbs," says Bob Weiner, an aide to the White House drug czar Barry McCaffrey. "People falsely believe that heroin abuse is just an inner-city problem," Weiner says. "We're talking about white-collar professionals from affluent suburban and kids from small rich neighborhoods." (Campbell).

Although most of the heroin dealt in the suburbs is brought in from the cities, money doesn't seem to be a problem for these suburban users. The prices range anywhere from $60-$700 for 1 gram or anywhere from $1,000-$3,500 for 1 ounce (Brecher). A lot of researchers believe that the reason for the big transition is simply money. The suburbs are where the money is at. Many of wealthy kids who use heroin have the money to spend on it and many clinics believe that is a very big reason for the rapid increase of heroin use in the suburbs.

Heroin is attacking more and more young people in the suburbs each year. One writer addresses the issue and uses the state of Texas as an example. She concluded with the following:

"Nineteen young people have died from heroin overdoses in the wealthy Dallas suburb since 1997. As the price of heroin on the street continues to drop and its purity rises, health experts say that teenagers and young adults are finding the drug more attractive. In a decade, the average age of first-time heroin users has dropped dramatically, from 27.4 in 1988 to 17.6 in 1997 Ð'-- the youngest average since 1969. And the drug that was once thought of as the scourge of the inner city is becoming ever more popular with other segments of society, particularly America's small towns and suburbs. "The idea that it only happens on a street corner in some godforsaken part of Manhattan is just wrong,"

said Terry Horton, the medical director and vice president of Phoenix House, a national drug treatment organization. "We have young, white suburban kids coming into the inner city neighborhoods and into the needle exchanges," adds Rick Curtis, a professor at John Jay School of Criminal Justice, who is conducting a five-year study of heroin use in New York City. "They are not only using heroin but they are using it in fairly risky ways." (Campbell)."

The average age users first try heroin in the suburbs differs from the average age that