Heroin Drug Abuse Among Teens and Young Adults

Heroin has been sweeping through the suburbs of New York City and is becoming a fast growing trend throughout the northeast. Despite the introduction of cutting agents, chemicals that dilute the strength of the drug providing a bigger yield, toady's heroin happens to be stronger and cheaper than it once was. People are struggling to figure the cause of this new wave of heroin drug abuse among teens and young adults, heroin is commonly thought of only being used by the "low of the low"; this misconception has allowed teen drug habits to progress unchecked, heroin is just such an unbelievable drug for teens to be experimenting with.

Bags of heroin for street purchase are usually marked with a skull and cross bones or words like "Kiss of Death" and "R.I.P". "A bag of heroin can sell for $5 to $25 and induce a six- to eight-hour high, according to officials and former users. Cocaine, by comparison, can cost $40 to $60 for a 30-minute high, while prescription painkillers like Vicodin or OxyContin sell for upward of $40 a pill on the street. The heroin available in the Northeast these days is purer than the kind that ravaged New York City in the 1970s, experts say, and almost certainly as lethal, if not more", according to the New York Times. It is thought that the lethality of the drug plays a large role in teenagers' attraction to it; the idea of cheating death and a sense of invisibility among teens draws many to the drug. According to Bridget G. Brennan, New York City's special narcotics prosecutor, "recent drug raids of so-called heroin mills have yielded hundreds of thousands of bags at a time, up from several hundred bags a year ago".

People are overdosing and dying all over the northeast, many times before anyone even knew they was an addiction problem occurring. In Nassau County, Long Island 25 people died of overdoses just in the first 6 months of 2009; it appears that the number of heroin related overdoses has been doubling every year, making clear the heroin should be a major concern amongst parents, even those in upper-middle class suburbs. Once the hand of heroin addiction grabs a hold of someone, it unfortunately takes repeated pain and suffering before the addict will even consider the remote possibility of seeking out recovery. Very few people have ever managed to "kick" heroin on their own, treatment is usually the only route to freedom with such a powerful drug; often heroin addicts end up checking into treatment multiple times in their life before sobriety sticks to them.

California Medical Marijuana Is Doping Our Youth

Marijuana is being used to help treat Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) with children in California, has medical marijuana gone too far? This is one of those things that is a question of ethics and certainly needs to be addressed before there is a catastrophe. In 1999 California voters passed a law which allowed doctors to recommend cannabis for medical use, including minors. A seventeen year old with leukemia is a far cry from a twelve year old with ADHD. In California Marijuana can be recommended "for any ... illness for which marijuana provides relief". It has been known for a long time that marijuana inhibits focusing and motivation, how marijuana could be considered useful for ADHD is beyond me; the Washington Times reports, "ADHD is described as a neurological disorder that prevents children from focusing on a specific task. In essence, people with ADHD have difficulty with self-regulation and self-motivation, owing to problems with distractibility, organization and prioritization".

In the United States we are guilty of over-medicating our children and as a result our children suffer. With 14 million Adderall prescriptions last year it is obvious that we are too quick to medicate. Now we are drifting into the world of alternative medications like marijuana to fix our problems with out doing all the research. There needs to be a certain level of digression by doctors when recommending marijuana, otherwise we will be fueling addiction throughout our youth. "What they don't realize is that marijuana use during childhood and the early-teen years produces significantly different effects than marijuana use later in life. The behaviors exhibited by introducing tetrahydrocannabinol -- the active ingredient in marijuana -- to the brain are similar to those demonstrated by alcohol consumption", reports the Washington Times.

We need to start getting real with ourselves regarding the benefits of medical marijuana. Its uses are limited and do not apply to everyone, it has side-effects that have no place in a child's life. If marijuana is going to be legal it needs to be treated like every other prescription drug and be held up to the same scrutiny. We wouldn't give Oxycontin to a child for a hang nail!

Nursing Home Residents Who Need Pain Drugs

The war on drugs has totally disrupted the health care system in America. Patients and seniors in long-term-care facilities are having trouble getting pain medication; serious delays are causing needless suffering. A number of staff members working in nursing homes steal the patients pain medication to sell or use; the DEA in response now requires doctor's signatures along with a sleuth of other approvals when pain medication is ordered. The Washington Post reports that lawmakers have become concerned and, "wrote to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. this month, urging that the Obama administration issue new directives to the DEA and support a possible legislative fix for the problem, which has bothered nursing home administrators and geriatric experts for years". There doesn't seem to be an easy solution to this problem; on the one hand there are not enough doctors to be around every nursing home at all times, on the other a serious number of prescription pain medications such as: morphine, Oxycontin, Percocet, and Vicodin are being stolen. How to secure the distribution of opiates and provide nursing home residents who need pain drugs in a timely matter is the question?

Pharmacies that provide pain medication to nurses without all the approvals in order face tens of thousands of dollars in fines. "The system is broken. It isn't working, and patients are suffering," said Claudia Schlosberg, director of policy and advocacy for the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists. "While we need to ensure there are proper controls on the medications, the overall law enforcement concern has to be compatible with meeting patients' needs, and right now it's not", according to the Washington Post. Scholsberg has a good point, patients' rights need to prevail over all else, there obviously needs to be some restrictions but they can't get in the way of a patients' well being. Nobody would want their loved ones to suffer while in the care of someone else, it just is not acceptable.

It does not seem right that the war on pain has to suffer from the war on drugs; I guess that is war though, they are usually not fair. Nurses and doctors cannot effectively manage their patients' pain as a result of the Drug Enforcement Agencies strict policies. Hopefully, a compromise can be found that will stop all the delays and still monitor the drugs in order to keep them off the streets.

The Painkiller Task Force is Charged with Curbing the Oxycontin Epidemic

The children of today's world are faced with a new enemy, a threat that can be obtained legally throughout the world. Prescription medications can be obtained as easy as candy and are devastating the younger generations. The use of prescription medications has become quite common among teenagers and young adults; sadly, many do not understand how dangerous drugs like Oxycontin can be. Teenagers who see drugs like Oxycontin on the medicine cabinet shelves in their own home are some how led to believe that there is no harm in consuming a drug that was prescribed. People are just now starting to understand that drugs like Oxycontin are tantamount to heroin; the side-effects of consumption are just as devastating as heroin if used inappropriately. In San Diego County a task force was recently developed to combat this pain medication problem. The painkiller task force is charged with curbing the Oxycontin epidemic especially, this is a result of the numerous cases in the county involving the drug.

"Oxycontin, which is derived from Oxycodone, is a painkiller prescribed for moderate to severe pain. Oxycontin is a highly addictive opiate and can be lucrative for drug dealers, said Ralph Partridge, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's San Diego field office," reports the La Jolla Light. 200 Oxycontin related arrests in the San Diego area since last November has raised many concerns throughout the community. Kids as young as 12 years old have been experimenting with Oxycontin and similar drugs in the opiate family. Oxycontin can be sold for as much as a dollar a milligram which has led many drug dealers to see how lucrative the drug can be. Since Oxycontin does not carry the same stigmas as heroin it is more likely to be bought and consumed by young people; teenagers do not seem to understand that the risk of overdose is just the same as heroin.

Unfortunately, prescription medication can be a lot easier to hide from anyone who might be concerned. This allows continued drug use to go on with teenagers unchecked; by the time a problem is detected by loved ones it's usually too late because addiction has already tightened its grip. Most parents are not aware of the signs that they should be looking for or even worse choose to believe that there is no way their child could be caught up with drugs. According to the La Jolla Light, "children and teens who are hooked on Oxycontin don't 'meet your normal profile'. The average profile of an Oxycontin addict is 15 to 30 years old. It's not unusual for an addict to be a college student or an athlete, said Dr. Sean O'Hara an addiction specialist..." Oxycontin use among young people cannot be ignored any longer, it will only be a matter of time before other opiates like heroin come into the picture. The quicker a problem is identified, the faster it can be resolved; hopefully, states will work hard to educate young people about the serious effects of this drug.

Mary Bono Mack Will Take Drug Addiction Right To Washington D.C.

Health Care reform in America seems to be a heated debate these days. What to include, what not to include and just how do we go about real change in the health care system. California Representative Mary Bono Mack will give a speech on Saturday, October 17, 2009, at Riverside Community College District's Moreno Valley Campus. She will be discussing her son's struggle with drug addiction . Mack believes that addiction prevention should be one of the main topics in the health care debate. Unfortunately, her son Chesare, began abusing pain medication shortly after his father, Sonny Bono, died in a ski accident in 1998. What started as Oxycontin abuse, progressed as most opiate addicts do, to using harder opiates such as heroin. Chesare went to two drug treatment centers before the recovery process began to take hold. Mary Bono Mack will take drug addiction right to Washington D.C..

Mack, according to The Press Enterprise, "began speaking out after she and her son, Chesare, went public in a People magazine story in February about his struggle with drug addiction and recovery". Since that article she has become, by default, a voice for the drug and alcohol community to help shed light on the disease of addiction. We can no longer keep the subject of addiction in the closet, we need to open the conversation so there can be a solution found in a health care system that does not currently understand addiction. "In Washington, D.C., Bono Mack is set to testify Thursday about narcotics trafficking during a House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere meeting. She also said she's pushing for tighter Food and Drug Administration controls on Oxycontin", stated The Press Enterprise. Bono Mack has opened her ears to the countless families that have loved ones addicted to drugs, she feels that it is necessary to step up and speak out.

There needs to be more courageous people like Bono Mack who are willing to go as far as it takes to get the information out there regarding the dangers of prescription medications. The longer we ignore what drugs like Oxycontin do to people, the longer families will continue to be devastated. Prescription drugs are just as addictive as illegal drugs and have the ability to ruin just as many lives - if not more. "A lot of parents don't know prescription pills are a dangerous substance," she said. "They need to educate themselves about what's out there. It's a tough battle", reports The Press Enterprise.

If you are interested in participating in this discussion, here are the details:

Substance Abuse Conference
What: Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Palm Springs, as well as public and mental health officials will speak during the conference aimed at youths, young adults and parents.
When: 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Riverside Community College District Moreno Valley campus, 16130 Lasselle St., in Student Services room 101
Cost: Free and no reservations needed
Information: 951-571-6100