Heroin: "The Needle And The Damage Done" – (Knowledge Is Power Series)-[pt.2]

Heroin was once sold on store shelves. Produced by Bayer (the Aspirin company) in 1898. It was originally used as a cough suppressant – safe for use on children!

Heroin is a deep pain reliever. It slows your breathing. It makes you euphoric. The medical applications still exist though a stigma still remains.

Opium has been a problem for centuries. Heroin is just an amplification of that. It is either smoked, snorted or more commonly given intravenously. The user experiences euphoria, pleasure, and pain relief. The problem is in the tolerance that our body quickly builds. It takes more and more heroin – in closer together intervals – to achieve the desired effect. Once the drug is taken away from the body – it almost immediately goes into withdrawal.

The Jazz era was largely influenced by Heroin. Guys like Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane or Ray Charles. Most Jazz era musicians came from houses with dirt floors – Heroin provided respite from memories and troubles of the day – and opened a new creative door in some peoples mind.

In 1969 more than 44% of prison inmates were addicted to Heroin. In the United States during Vietnam at that same time - 15% of the servicemen were addicted to heroin. Drug offences became a problem in the Black community – in 1950 in the United States a black man was 9.7 times more likely to be suspected in a drug arrest than a white man. By 1970 this [https://libcom.org/library/5-working-class-heroin-use-1950-1970] number was down to 2.1 (which is still 210% more likely).

In modern times – Heroin has been viewed as a “hard” drug. Society has painted heroin users as delinquent or criminal – or the more attractive caricature known as Heroin Chic. In 60s and 70s pop music heroin references were blatant. Leading to such songs as Neil Young’s “Needle and the damage done” or John Lennon’s “Cold Turkey”. Heroin addiction in the rent times – particularly the 1990s – claimed the lives of many musicians who should otherwise be living.

Addicted users face social consequences once they switch over to Heroin. The effect is more intense – but it lasts for shorter duration which leads to more use. Eventually most users begins pushing the boundaries and sometimes they end up dead.
In the civilized world we look at Heroin use and addiction as a social problem. In Canada for example, we have safe injection sites and give out needles. This keeps the needles off the street without "judging" the problem. In other countries it is the judicial system that deals with drug offenders - sometime requiring jail time or time in a rehabilitation facility.

The future of Heroin use does not look good from a prevention point of view. With opium addiction – users will do anything to stop the withdrawal. This might mean stealing , buying off “the street” or even prostitution. As a result of the increase in opiate prescriptions - it is estimated in the United States there are already 500,000 Heroin addicts. It is also estimated that 2.1 million are addicted to opioid pain relievers. As doctors continue to prescribe these drugs and people continue to have difficulty stopping them – more Heroin will be used even of the number of opioid users does not increase. Even if a quarter of the 2.1 million switch to Heroin - it will effectively double the number of Heroin users in America. Heroin is relatively easy to access. Many users will visit a dealer multiple times a day to get their "fix" as they earn money. Suburban "junkies" resort to selling items or using financing for their habit. It comes at a much higher price than the $100 a gram most people charge – heroin users -shockingly- have 20 times the mortality rate of non-users.

Sources:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_United_States_drug_prohibition]
[http://www.narconon.ca/drug-information/heroin-timeline.html]
[https://libcom.org/library/5-working-class-heroin-use-1950-1970]
[http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/heroin.html]