America's Heroin Epidemic

Designing for Public Cause

While heroin use has increased across the board, among both sexes, all age groups, and all income levels, the most drastic surges are seen in groups that have had historically low rates of heroin use, namely women, the privately insured, and those in higher income brackets. Among women, heroin use has doubled in the past decade.

“Heroin Use Surging Among Women and Middle Class”

— New York Times

Trending Addiction
Before the 1990s, doctors were not prescribing narcotics. After a steadfast determination of pain care specialists to answer the call for treatment to chronic pain, that all changed. Doctors are now being too liberal with prescribing opioid painkillers. Prescriptions have risen by 300% in the last decade. Between 1997 and 2005, methadone prescriptions shot up by 1000%, oxycodone prescriptions went up 600% and prescriptions for generic Vicodin increased 200%.

Prescription Gateway
Prescription painkillers have become a primary gateway drug. Opioid painkillers like Vicodin, OxyContin, and Percocet increase your susceptibility to heroin addiction, and a report found that 75% of heroin users started out on prescription painkillers.

Once a patient can no longer refill their prescription or their tolerance is built up too much, they resort to buying opioids on the street. That can only last so long since the street prices are so high. That is when they seek out heroin . According to the DEA , one day’s supply of OxyContin on the street can cost as much as $160, while a day’s worth of heroin costs about $40.

How does heroin effect your body?
Your brain can secrete dopamine simply by looking at a picture of a loved one or a beautiful sunset. You only feel pleasure if dopamine binds with its receptors, which are located all throughout the brain. When dopamine binds to the receptor, immediate changes take place in your brain cells, producing the experience of a “hit” of pleasure and reward.

However, when the stimulation becomes too high, your brain’s reward center will begin to eliminate some of them. This is a survival mechanism to prevent the body from becoming hyper-stimulated, but as a result you no longer feel anywhere near the pleasure felt initially. As a result, you build tolerance, which means you need greater amounts of the substance to achieve the same result you got initially.

Women tend to become dependent on drugs more quickly than men, according to the most recent data from the Substance Abuse Mental-Health Services Administration. Women also find it harder to quit and are more susceptible to relapse, according to Harvard Medical School.

IDEATION

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