SKYROCKETING HEROIN USE LINKED TO PAINKILLERS
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released shocking new statistics showing heroin use climbed to staggering proportions. According to a 10-year study, heroin use more than doubled in the last decade among teenagers, women, and people with higher incomes (people earning more than $60,000 annually).
The number of heroin-related deaths nearly quadrupled over the same time period -- 8,200 people died from heroin overdose in 2013, the most recent statistics available.
Nine out of 10 heroin users also use other drugs, such as marijuana and cocaine. But mostly, by far, they use prescription painkillers.
Forty-five percent of heroin addicts are also addicted to prescription painkillers. These are the powerful opiates that are prescribed by thousands of doctors every day to offer patients relief after an injury or surgery or for headaches or back pain.
They have names like OxyContin, Vicodin, Methadone, Darvocet, Lortab, Lorcet and Percocet. It is very easy to get hooked on these drugs. Oftentimes, the patient unknowingly becomes dependent when that’s the last thing they ever intended to do.
The reason it happens is because these powerful narcotics cause an increasing physical tolerance. The patient starts needing more of the drug to achieve the same effect. On top of that, the body starts craving the drug in order to feel normal, even after the pain for which he or she was taking it has subsided.
The federal government has started cracking down on the issuance of prescription painkillers. As a result, people abusing them are discovering they are harder to get and are more expensive than they used to be. In fact, a single OxyContin pill can sell for up to $80 on the street.
Painkiller addicts will do anything to get them - even kill. Pharmacists on the job and even customers are too often gunned-down by junkie robbers who took only one thing from the drug store: prescription painkillers.
It’s because of the expense and difficulty obtaining prescription painkillers for non-medical reasons that so many painkiller addicts are switching to heroin. For a hard-core addict, the daily cost of heroin is about one-fourth that of painkillers. And heroin is easier to get than painkillers. Both drugs allow the user to achieve the same "high." The user experiences the same euphoric effect from heroin as they do from prescription painkillers.
Dr. Debra Houry, director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, said painkiller addition is the gateway to heroin addiction.
"In only 10 years, heroin use has more than doubled among people who abused or were dependent on prescription opioid painkillers," she said, "In fact, in this study, the strongest risk factor for heroin abuse or dependence was abuse or dependence on opioid painkillers."
If you suspect someone you know might be addicted to prescription painkillers, here are some warning signs:
1. Usage increases
2. Use continues after medical condition improves
3. Change in personality
4. Change in sleeping/eating habits
5. Social withdrawal
6. Spending large amounts of time obtaining prescriptions
7. Diminished personal hygiene
8. Cough, runny nose, glazed, red eyes
9. Neglects responsibilities
10. Increased sensitivity to normal sights, sounds and emotions, including hallucinations
11. Blackouts and forgetfulness
12. Defensive about drug use
If you or someone you know is addicted to prescription painkillers or heroin, seek help from a substance abuse treatment center, including medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction. Naloxone has been shown to reduce opioid overdose deaths.
