Pubdate: Fri, 10 Dec 2004
Source: Holbrook Sun (MA)
Copyright: 2004, Tri-Town Transcript
Contact:  http://www2.townonline.com/holbrook/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3596
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?143 (Hepatitis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

Editorial:

HEROIN: THE GRIM KEEPER

As the New Year approaches and the old year fades away, the lives of 
thousands will be carried with it, lives cut down by heroin.

Last year, 4,251 heroin users died, 90 percent directly from heroin or 
heroin with alcohol, and 10 percent from heroin combined with suicide, 
murder, accidents, or medical disorders.

Heroin accounts for 51 percent of drug-related deaths. In the 24 to 49 age 
group, illicit drug overdose is the fourth leading cause of death, about 
the same as motor vehicle accidents. The average age for heroin users has 
dropped from 28 to 17.

Heroin is a highly addictive drug derived from morphine, which is obtained 
from the opium poppy. The color ranges from white to a dark brown powder or 
tar-like substance. Depending on user preference and purity of the drug, 
heroin can be injected into a vein (mainlining), injected into a muscle, 
smoked, or inhaled. Chronic users may develop collapsed veins, infection of 
the heart lining and valves, abscesses, or liver disease.

The first impact of a heroin injection, puff, or snort is a rush of 
euphoria, a feeling of well-being, of recreation with friends, but in the 
wake of the rush rides collapsing health and solitude .

While 80 percent of heroin users inject with a partner, 80 percent of 
overdose victims found by paramedics are found alone, according to the In 
the Know Zone website.

People die from heroin addiction. They steal to get money to feed their 
ever-more-voracious habit. They lose their jobs, their homes, their 
families. They share needles, risking HIV and Hepatitis C.

The detox center becomes a revolving door, as they go into treatment, get 
clean, come out, and snort again. Then it's back to detox.

Heroin is a bigger problem in the Northeast than anywhere else in the 
country, according to Norfolk County District Attorney William Keating.

A panel sponsored by Keating's office held an open forum last month to 
discuss the problem of heroin addiction in our county.

The group, consisting of the Weymouth Police Department, Learn 2 Cope, New 
Hope Transitional Support Services, and members of the Norfolk County 
probation department, was joined locally by the Weymouth Youth Coalition 
and the Weymouth Heroin Use Prevention Coalition.

David Abrahamian, clinical director of New Hope TSS, said that although the 
problem could get worse, access to the drug and developing an addiction 
areas easy as ever.

"Seventy percent of heroin users start on painkillers and things like 
OxyContin," he said.

As tolerance increases after extended use of prescription drugs, people 
start looking for something more potent.

"All it takes is an average of three to four uses over a short time to 
become addicted," Abrahamian said.

The Internet swims with information about heroin, heroin addiction, and 
heroin treatment.

One statistic seems elusive.

What are the odds of permanently kicking the habit?

With the help of the district attorney's office, data is currently being 
collected to establish statistics which will shed light on the status of 
heroin and other drug use for the county.

There are success stories.

There is one story on the Web about a young woman who wanted to stop using 
because she became pregnant. She quit successfully by going "cold turkey" 
and then moving away, so she was no longer available to the influence of 
"friends" she used with.

One of the important factors in escaping addiction seems to be kicking out 
friends who are users if you want to successfully kick the habit.

State, county, and local programs can provide options for treatment, but 
the power lies in the hands of the person with the hypodermic.

The power is in the moment when a prospective addict considers making that 
first score. Heroin quickly claims its own.

This game is not the Rose Bowl. In this game, if you score, you lose.

"These might look like scare tactics, but I've got news: be scared," 
Keating said during the forum. "When you're addicted, it's not a decision 
any more."

Experts tell us that awareness and early intervention are the best measures 
of preventing heroin addiction.

Memo to any would-be users out there:

It's not a good idea.

It's worth exercising a little willpower to stay off heroin.

Heroin seems more likely to stop the user than the user is to stop heroin.
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MAP posted-by: Jackl