The Reality of the “Hillbilly Heroin” Epidemic in Appalachia McDOWELL COUNTY, March 9—West Virginia’s Bureau of Public Health determined that the state of drug addiction and abuse in McDowell County, West Virginia is increasing in high numbers. McDowell County, known to be one of the poorest counties in America, is a community overwhelmed with the devastating effects of poverty and drug addiction. This is clearly a problem too dire to ignore. Background:
The pain class of drugs makes up a huge portion of the global pharmaceutical market, specifically 300 million prescriptions, just second to cancer medication. This market is worth about $24 billion and a large portion of this market is made up of opioids1. Raw opium from the opioid plant was being consumed for pain purposes for hundreds of years from the early 1500’s to the early 1800’s. It was not until 1804 when German pharmacist, Friedrich Sertürner, isolated the alkaloid, Morphine, from the opium poppy plant with the purpose to make a drug with a safer alternative than consuming raw opium. Not only was Morphine the first opioid drug to be isolated straight from the opium poppy
Anticipated effects of a community heroin aftercare program Patti Maisner Kaplan University Introduction Project Heroin, an aftercare program in a small community setting with a high school outreach prevention aspect, will be the first of its kind. There are several factors to be considered besides the usual cost analysis and budget impact. Issues of positive and negative health effects on the clients, employees, and surround community need to be considered and will be, purposefully, with members of the community from businesses to key stakeholders, even residents of the community. They will commence with an assessment that considers the health risks and environmental impacts before the program in implemented. Using
Availability of opioids puts more and more people at risk for addiction. A simple prescription from the doctor for a migraine or back pain can turn into an addiction. Doctors are faced daily with patients who complain of pain, acute and chronic. It has become a simple solution for them to write out a prescription for pain medication to help their patient. In turn, not helping them at all.
How Can A Meth Addiction Can Ruin A Person's Life? If a person is dealing with a meth addiction, then it is important for him or her to go to meth rehab as soon as possible. Meth abuse can result in both short and long-term damage. Short-term meth abuse can result in weight loss, increased aggressiveness, nausea and irritability.
we are living through the worst epidemic of addiction in american history, and the drugs causing the most deaths are legal prescription opioids like oxycontin, percocet, and vicodin. How did so many of us get addicted to painkillers? and why are so many americans dying from drug overdoses? to find out you have to go back to the early 90s. Before that time doctors generally considered opioids dangerous but in 1996 a company called purdue pharma released a new drug ,oxycontin.
Opiate addiction treatment centers Alcohol abuse and Opiate addiction continues to impacts millions of lives in the United States every day. The situation is so bad that government and private partners are coming together to establish treatment centers for opiate addiction. Many states in U.S have more than 20 drug treatment centers and rehabilitation facilities. These treatment facilities offer quality drug addiction treatment to addicts of heroin, cocaine and other hard drugs in the Opioid family. They follow a set of rules and guidelines provided by state regulatory bodies and the United States Federal government.
Then, in the 1980s, a smokable form of cocaine was introduced to Americans. It was sold in “28 states and the District of Columbia”. Crack was very accessible to everyone as it was sold for only $1-3 dollars each. The cheapness of crack was another strong incentive for people to buy crack. By 1994, “about 1.4 million Americans” used cocaine, and the number of those who used too much cocaine was 500,000.
Cocaine and Crack Cocaine Cocaine is an illegal drug in the United States. It is a chemical obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. It is classified as a central nervous system stimulant that causes feelings of euphoria as well as increases body temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate. It can also be used as a local anesthetic. A cocaine user, when high, will feel a sense of intense euphoria increasing libido.
The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 was a law that was signed by President Ronald Reagan on October 27, 1986. This law was what officially began the all-out war on drugs that is still being fought today by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies across the United States and internationally. This particular Act has been one of the leading cause of mass incarceration of both men and women in America. The prison population has almost quadrupled since 1980 to 2000 due to strict laws against drug dealers, drug traffickers, and users. Each year, the overall prison population surpassed the 1 million mark (Lurigio & Loose, 2008).
According to the Center for Disease Control, “opioid-related overdose deaths now outnumber overdose deaths involving all illicit drugs such as heroin and cocaine combined.” Another study found that people who have access to medical marijuana are less at risk of developing painkiller abuse or dying from prescription drug overdoses. Prescription painkiller abuse and overdose is a rapidly-growing problem in America, and the signs are pointing to medical marijuana as a solution. Statistics show that about 53% of people who become addicted to opioid painkillers obtained them free from a friend or relative. The only way to stop this is to stop prescribing opioid-based narcotics.
Methamphetamine is a nervous system stimulant drug. The drug is extremely addictive, it is a white, odorless, bitter-tasting crystalline powder. There are many different ways you can take this drug. Such as orally, smoked, snorted, or dissolved in water or alcohol and injected. When you smoke or inject the substance, it quickly goes to the brain.
Cocaine is the one of the oldest major drugs of constantly natural origin. Benzoyl-methyl-ecgonine (chemical compound of cocaine) originates in the lower altitudes of the eastern slopes of th eAndes, or the highlands depending on the species grown, in particular in Bolivia,Colombia and Peru. However, coca is a relatively easy plant to grow. Over time the powdery drug formed from a plant in western south america became almost iconic; popularized by people and up and coming companies. In 1884 Cocaine was Praised as Miracle Cure by Sigmund Freud The American medical community embraces cocaine as a miracle cure for a variety of ailments, including, ironically, addiction to morphine and alcohol.
Drugs in the United States are controlled by the 1970 Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act. This was past by Congress in the 1970’s. It regulates the manufacture, the destruction as well as the possession and use of drugs. It also places all drugs into one of the five schedules that are I, II, III, IV and V. The overall intention of the Comprehensive Drug Act is to help the government fight and prevent drugs being used for other then its intended medical use.
Illegal drugs and the effects of drug dealing, drug use and drug addiction on families/communities. Drugs are substances that can be inhaled, injected, smoked, consumed, absorbed or dissolved under the tongue. Drugs can cause a temporary physiological change in the body and can often lead to drug addiction. Four common illegal drugs are 1. Cannabis (common names are: Weed, hash, skunk, marijuana) 2.