America 's Drug Use Migration Essay

Heroin is an opiate, and is a product that is extracted from the Poppy plant and synthesized from morphine. It is a white-to-dark brown powder or tar-like substance and is highly addictive because its qualities become lesser as use progresses, causing the receiver to need more of the drug to achieve the result of the pain relief. Heroin

This literature review will focus mainly on the drug use of heroin, the scary numbers behind the drug and the sudden rise of overdosing on the drug across the United States. Issues that will be discussed are what is Heroin, what’s in Heroin that makes it addicting, how it can increase the users risk of contracting other life threatening diseases and where it’s use and abuse are most popular across the United states and we will take a look at multiple studies that show examples of our new drug problem in the United States. While we looked at how homicide rates have dropped while in class, the flip side to that is that the amount of drug usage has risen.

“Declared “the most heroin-plagued city in the U.S.” by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in 2000, Baltimore has grappled with how to effectively address the problem of [heroin] drug addiction in the city for decades” (Tsui & Rukow, 2007, p. i). Baltimore has more people addicted to heroin, per captia, than any other U.S. city. It is estimated the heroin that is bought and sold in Baltimore on an annual basis yields as much as $1 billion in the underground drug market. Heroin addiction is an epidemic in Baltimore that dates back to the 1950s and is now a deep-rooted part of the city’s culture (Yang, 2000).

“...from that moment on I didn't take heroin because I wanted to, I took it because I needed to.” Heroin is a highly addictive, illegal drug that comes from the opium plant. In just the year 2014, 12,000 people in the United States died from heroin overdoses. The York County community has made a big effort to help fight the heroin epidemic, but despite these efforts the county is clearly still struggling with over 60 overdose deaths last year. Some of the efforts York County is making include the use of NARCAN, drug drop boxes, the Good Samaritan law and treatment courts.

Heroin or diacetylmorphine is a synthetic opium drug. Heroin was created by a German scientist named Felix Hoffmann around 1897. Heroin was intended to be a weaker less addictive version of morphine. However, it turned out to be more additive and about twice as potent as morphine. Heroin was marketed by the Bayer Aspirin Company as a safe alternative to morphine. However when it became publically know that heroin was worse than morphine for its addictive

Drug Addiction. It is a problem that has infected many of our communities, and the media is responsible for helping to shed light on this growing problem. But what happens when drug addiction is not covered in the same manner amongst all demographics? One issue that encapsulates this is drug addiction on the two shores of Staten Island.

Heroin is a painkilling drug that is made from the Papaverum Somniferum, also known as the opium poppy plant. All opiates are addictive painkillers. Heroin starts as a milky sap of the opium poppy. The sap is then dried and becomes a gum. After washing the gum, it becomes opium. Morphine and codeine are two painkilling alkaloids that

The War on Drugs, like the war on Terrorism, is a war that America may not be able to afford to win. For over forty years the United States has been fighting the War on Drugs and there is no end in sight. It has turned into a war that is about politics and economics rather than about drugs and criminals. The victims of this war are numerous; but perhaps they are not as numerous as those who benefit from the war itself.

Heroin is a illicit drug that is highly addictive. Heroin can be called dope, smack, junk, skag, brown sugar, H, horse, Mr. Brownstone, Dr. Feelgood, Charley, or China white. It is processed from morphine, a naturally occurring substance that is taken from the pod of seeds of certain types of poppy plants. Usually sold as a white or brown powder that is cut with different substances such as sugars, starch, powdered milk, or quinine. Heroin that is completely pure is a white powder with a nasty bitter taste. It comes from South America and from Southeast Asia. Heroin can be smoked, snorted, or injected. There is other heroin used that is known as “black tar”. This substance is sticky that is made in Mexico and distributed here (What is Heroin).

The United States is not immune to the worldwide drug addiction epidemic. Drugs pour in from Mexico daily, then distributed to throughout the country. The economic crisis in America is creating an excuse for drug use (e.g., depression, hopelessness). This chemical fix not only creates problems for the addict, but the family and community as well. Every addict has an enabler, a person who makes the addiction possible through various venues of support (e.g., financial, denial). Addicts are only concerned with their next fix and will resort to any means to obtain it (e.g., theft, prostitution, pan-handling). Some have even resorted to extremely desperate measures; for example, murder for inheritance or life insurance proceeds.

Being born and spending all of my life on Staten Island, I am well aware with the drug epidemic that plagues the borough especially with opioids. In high school, I knew people who used opioids to battle their personal demons. The people I was acquainted with saw and wanted help, but did not have the sufficient will power at the time to quit. After graduating high school, and then attending college many of the acquaintances I knew and others that I did not died from unintentional overdoses. What further troubles me is that in my own personal experience with my family, drug addicts are always trying to seek help before an overdose. Thus, I was glad and relieved that Mayor Bill de Blasio launched an effort to reduce opioid usage and fatal overdoses

Dangerous illegal drugs have plagued American citizens and their youth for as long as the country has been in existence. These harmful drugs are not only responsible for countless amounts of deaths, but the corruption of the American society in general. All too many times have these drugs been blamed for insanity, racism, rebellion, and straight up violence. Today the government is spending approximately $19.179 billion in one year to combat these evils (Gifford). Unfortunately, even with all of this effort going in to stop illegal drug use, the “War on Drugs” is yet to produce almost any positive results. Because of this, politicians are urging the government to spend even more money to combat the seemingly

According to Swanson et al., heroin was first developed in England in 1874, but was not really abused because it was not found to be a powerful drug until the 1890s (550). Heroin is an odorless, crystal-like, white powder and is retrieved the opium poppy plant (Swanson et al. 550). Heroin can also, sometimes, be the gateway drug from the drug marijuana. A gateway drug is any addictive drug that may lead to the use of a more addictive drug.

Since the early 1960’s there have been an alarming increase in drug use in the United States in 1962, four million Americans had tried an illegal drug. By 1999, that number had risen to a staggering 88.7 million, according to the 1999 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.

In the United States of America, we, the people value several things, some of which