Recent news reports are describing the increases in heroin abuse among American teenagers. These are not urban teens but suburban ones. Heroin rates in large Northeastern cities have always been higher than in suburbs or rural areas but that trend has been changing. Parents who moved their children out to the suburbs where they thought their kids would be safer are finding that heroin seems to have followed them to their new homes.
But if you have been tracking with the changes in drug abuse in the last few years, it’s no surprise that heroin use soars for suburban teens. The reason behind this shift has to do with the prescription drug Oxycontin. This opiate and others like fentanyl and hydrocodone have been popular drugs of abuse for several years. For suburban teens, abusing OxyContin and the others has been more acceptable than driving to the city to score heroin. They could find it in their own medicine chests in some cases, or buy it from fellow students. They may have even been prescribed this drug themselves, after a sports accident.
OxyContin is one of the more quickly addictive drugs. A person who parties with OxyContin or a similar drug may soon find that the cravings drive him back to use the drug again and again.
The Switch to Heroin
But chemically, OxyContin is similar to heroin. And heroin is cheaper than OxyContin, which generally costs about $1 per milligram. The 80 milligram pill is a popular one among abusers, so the money will go fast when this is the chosen drug of abuse. If a person runs out of money, he may go looking for heroin, which is considerably cheaper, as little as one-tenth the price. And since a person addicted to OxyContin is often going to start struggling to deal with normal life activities like jobs, school and family life, he (or she) may soon be out of a job and scrambling to keep the withdrawal sickness away.
The other factor driving the switch to heroin is the change in the composition of OxyContin. In 2010, Purdue Pharma changed the formulation of OxyContin so it cannot be crushed and snorted or dissolved and injected. The pill is now gummy and much harder to abuse. This change drove many people to switch from the prescription formulation to the street drug. Once the change in formulation was announced, it was not hard to predict the next trend. And as that trend arrived, it was seen that heroin use soared for suburban teens.
Narcononhawaii.org Sees Same Problem in the Islands
As far back as 2002, Hawaii was struggling with increases in OxyContin abuse. Despite the high price of heroin, some people made the shift to the street drug. In 2010, the FBI arrested twelve people for trafficking heroin into the islands, as they saw an opportunity to make money from the destruction of others with this shift in consumption.
At the Narcononhawaii.org website, you can find out how people in Hawaii can recover from addiction to heroin, methamphetamine or prescription drugs. The Narconon program offers a long-term, holistic program. “Holistic” means that the whole person is considered, and each one is helped to gain back the physical health and mental strength that they need to stay sober after they go home.
It takes longer than 28 days to repair the damage done by addiction. Many people who have failed at short-term rehabs find lasting success at a Narconon drug rehab. For complete details on this successful program, visit www.narcononhawaii.org or call 1-800-775-8750 today.
More Articles:
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Jan/09/ln/l0n1a.html
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-06-20/news/32339720_1_heroin-addicts-heroin-overdose-heroin-abuse