Heroin Abuse

This can cause some heroin users into criminals. As heroin use increased so did the illegal acts to support their habit. Crime rates were on the rise and so was health issues. People who engaged in drug use or risky behaviors tend to have an increase in spreading disease. Heroin use was concerned with Hepatitis and HIV/AIDS. The viruses can spread thru make more risky behaviors. Sharing needles also was a major concern in spreading diseases. When the AIDS epidemic started, a harm reduction program began and clean needles started to be distributed. The government was trying to get a control of the epidemic that was rising. In 1981, the purity level of heroin was around 10 percent and the price of a gram, 3260. By 1999, the purity of heroin increased to close to 40 percent and paying less. Since 1999, purity levels rose and prices stayed low. Today, heroin is between 40 - 60 percent pure. People in the last few years had started using synthetic opioid, like fentanyl. Fentanyl is a lethal drug. Since fentanyl is so much cheaper and more potent than heroin is a deadly combination. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) states that heroin and fentanyl are most likely combined and increases the risk of overdoses.

Many drug dealers have been mixing the two and causing an increase in overdoses. This didn't decrease till the government began to prosecute those drug dealers. Fentanyl raised the risk of heroin abuse and became deadly combined with heroin. Fentanyl has an effect on opioid receptors. Those receptors control breathing rates. Too much can cause breathing to stop and it can lead to death. Since 1999, opioid deaths have increased by more than 5 times it was similar to the death statistics during the AIDS epidemic. In the United States, almost 600 people use heroin for the first time. The US governments have bulked up efforts to cut supplies of heroin. Federal and state officials have even begun having more treatment centers, focusing more less on punishment and more on treatments.

Doctors are also monitoring and screening patients, especially since many blame the medical field for the increase in opioid dependency. Federal and State agencies, insurance companies and physicians are trying to battle this growing epidemic. There are new limits on prescriptions and how physicians can prescribe them. In 1989, George H W Bush administration provided non-violent offenders aid rehabilitation services and probation rather than jail time. In 2016, President Obama granted more than a billion dollars in funding. This funding was for state grants, treatment programs, and prevention programs. Naloxone, a drug that can counteract heroin overdoses were available. Harm reduction programs were launched to help provide a safer drug use, to help contain it. This continued even till now, while President Trump is in office. In October 2017, President Trump declared a public health epidemic, to give more money to the crisis of heroin use. Addiction to heroin cannot be cured but it can be treated. Medical Assistant Treatment is providing a safe level to overcome heroin use.

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