Details of a Roosevelt University report in a recent article show that heroin overdoses increased in various counties surrounding Chicago.

Deaths in Lake County increase by nearly 130 percent between 2000 and 2009. McHenry County jumped to a 150 percent rise in three years while Will County deaths doubled over a two year period. Of those deaths, Cook County had a slight decline, at 16 percent, during a ten year period between 1998 and 2008. But at the same time, Cook County had a drastic increase in heroin overdoses among white women: a 40 percent increase.

The study shows that Chicago ranks first in emergency admittances due to heroin by women, men, African Americans and adults over 21 years old. Overall admittances for heroin are the highest in the Midwest city. The results are similar for percentages of inmates testing positive for heroin. About 29 percent of those arrestees at the Cook County Jail had heroin in their system. Of those arrested, the numbers show that 41 percent are white, 25 percent are African American and 24 percent are Latino.

An author of the report says that Chicago has one of the worst, if not the worst, problems with heroin in the country. Kane-Willis says heroin users are more often young, white women. Second only to alcohol, heroin is one of the more common substances Illinois residents receive treatment for. The illegal drug is demanded more than cocaine and even marijuana.

Kane-Willis blames affordability on Chicago’s problem with heroin use. When an illegal drug is cheaper than a movie ticket, what do you think a youngster will choose for entertainment?

The Affordability of Heroin in Chicago is Drawing More and More Young People is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

The United States is in an epidemic of prescription drug abuse with about seven million people using them for non-medical purposes, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Prescription drugs are now causing more deaths than illegal drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine, and the number of Americans dead from drug overdoses recently surpassed the number killed in automobile accidents.

Florida is the nation’s number-one supplier of prescription pain drugs used for nonmedical reasons. The most frequently abused of these drugs are OxyContin, Viocodin, and other potent painkillers. One of the most popular drugs now being abused is oxycodone, a painkiller related chemically to heroin. Of the 53 million oxycodone doses sold last year to medical practitioners, about 45 million were bought in Florida. Seven people die of prescription drug overdoses every 24 hours in Florida.

Dealers and drug tourists are traveling from other parts of the country to obtain prescription drugs in Florida that cost about a dollar a pill. They are able to sell them in their home states for $20-$30 a pill. Recently a man arrested in Connecticut with 8,000 pills in his possession admitted to police that he had gone to Florida 65 times in the past five months and obtained thousands of drugs each time. He was able to bribe airport authorities to let him smuggle the drugs into Connecticut.

The reason that drugs are so easy to get in Florida is that laws are lax enough that unethical doctors can set up “pain clinics” where people can obtain prescriptions simply by saying they are in pain, and without undergoing medical tests or examinations.

“People literally line up in the morning and wait for the doors to open, and then they swarm inside,” said Pinellas County Deputy Bob Gualtieri. “I hate to even call them doctors. Because they are not really doctors. They are people who hold a medical license, but they are not really practicing medicine, and you pay a cash fee. They’re drug dealers.”

Lt. Richard Pisanti of the Broward County’s Sheriff’s office said that people were doing drug deals right outside the pain clinics.

“We had burglaries, thefts of pills from cars, and one incident even resulted in murder,” he said.

The new legislation will require doctors to use electronic prescription pads or tamper-proof pads, and will increase penalties for overprescribing painkillers. Most doctors will be unable to dispense painkillers under the new regulations.

Florida legislators tried in the past to establish a drug database to keep track of which patients are obtaining which drugs and in what amounts. However, the state had trouble getting the measure funded, even though Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin, offered to pay $1 million to set it up.

The new law establishes the Electronic Florida Online Reporting of Controlled Substances Evaluation, enabling doctors to request patients’ drug histories. Pharmacists, and anyone who prescribes or fills prescriptions for narcotic drugs will have seven days after dispensing these painkillers to report information to the data system. The system should cut down on “doctor shopping,” which refers to patients who go from one doctor or clinic to another in order to obtain pills.

The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy already have a national database that doctors or pharmacists can use to retrieve information on painkiller prescriptions from any state participating in the database. Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, and 20 other states have agreed to participate in this database.

Many experts believe that national electronic databases for prescription drug abuse will only increase the problem of drug addicts turning to heroin. Because of earlier crackdowns, prescription drugs have already become more expensive and harder to get in certain parts of the country, including Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee, and parts of the west coast. For example, a typical dose of heroin costs $25 compared to $80 for an oxycodone pill in places like Oregon, where there is stricter enforcement of drug laws. The manufacturers of OxyContin have also produced a new version of the drug that is harder to abuse, in that it cannot be smoked, snorted or injected.

Even before the new laws go into effect in Florida, heroin abuse already is starting to increase. In Palm Beach County, for example, the amount of heroin seized by authorities so far this year is three pounds, up from 20 grams last year. The latest national statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice indicate that heroin abuse increased 342% between 2004 and 2008. Heroin dealers are convincing more people that heroin is not only cheaper than prescription pills, but it is just as safe if you smoke it, rather than inject it, according to addiction expert Dr. Terry Alley.

If heroin abuse becomes more widespread in the United States, more Americans will develop liver or kidney diseases, skin abscesses, collapsed veins, and infections of the heart lining and heart valves. One of the biggest dangers will be increased numbers of people with HIV/AIDS, because most heroin addicts use needles. Since the HIV/AIDS virus is a blood-borne disease, the infection can be spread by sharing needles. Heroin used to be imported from Columbia or Asia, but the kind most prevalent today is a very pure variety from Mexico.

Actions to Shut Down “Pill Mills” Result in Increased Heroin Addiction is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Dr. Kim D. Janda, Chemistry Chair at Scripps, says the treatment has shown to be effective in the immune response in the tested animals. They hope it will be an effective option for those trying to stop their heroin addiction, according to a recent report published in Science Daily. For the past 40 years researchers have not been able to achieve a viable vaccine for heroin as it is a mysterious drug that metabolizes into multiple matters.

Heroin has long been an epidemic of such a destructive nature, costing the U.S. $22 billion annually due to criminal problems, medical bills, loss of workforce productivity, and welfare costs. Researchers at Scripps say that heroin addiction and heroin abuse are huge factors in the spread of the AIDS virus because of users sharing needles.

Their newest approach is dynamic enough to not only targeting the heroin, but also the other chemicals that it breaks itself down into, known as 6AM. Researchers say they have come up with a sort of heroin cocktail that is a mixture of proteins that gradually break down in the system and expose it to different metabolites that are psychoactive to heroin.

Results in rat studies are promising and the team says they have never seen as dramatic a response to an experiment of this type.

Anti-Heroin Vaccine May Soon Be Available to Heroin Addicts is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

During testing, drugs, such as heroin and opium both activate the hypothalamus just as salt does. Scientists are led to believe that such addicting drugs have found a way to seize and take over some instinctive performance and behaviors. While the connection currently only exists in a theory, Australian professors are hoping to make it a proven fact.

Until it can be proven, researchers have turned to mice in hopes of making a theory a reality. Scientists didn’t allow a certain number of mice to eat salt, and instead, fed them a very low sodium diet. Days after the diet change, the mice were taken and analyzed. It was found that the mice who ate the salt had activated the same gene patterns that were changed in those addicted to cocaine and opium. The mice that were allowed to have absolutely no salt were also allowed saline solution as their “fix”. In their results, it was shown that there was a change in the genetic make up of expression, in the brain.

With these new studies, scientist and treatment facilities are also looking at a new way to treat the addiction. Now that they understand the area of the brain where the damage is being done, there might be hope for a new approach to treatment.

A world salt metabolism authority, informed researchers that the cocaine and opium addiction has developed gradually over the past couple thousand years. It was also shared that salt is considered a basic need of survival because the body uses it to circulate tissue and blood fluid’s functionality of the nerves, glandular and muscles. It is also extremely important in reproduction.

With all of the research and findings, it is suggested that addicting drugs, like cocaine and opium, have learned to take control of neural pathways that help to further the appetite for sodium and the satisfaction of sodium intake. The research also found that the saline solution gave the brain the idea that it got its fix, even though it was impossible. Before salt even entered the blood circulation, the brain thought it was repaired. This is because salt is needed for survival and is something that has evolved with evolution.

The Australian research team was comprised of Professor Denton and associates Michael McKinley, Andrew Lawrence, John Drago and Lesley Walker of Florey Neuroscience Institutes and Baker Medical Research Institute. The United States research team consisted of scientists from the University of Texas, as well as Duke University.

The Salt and Heroin Correlation is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

"The last five years, I’ve seen her three times…" said Newby, who has always enjoyed writing. When she needed a senior project to prepare for her upcoming graduation, she chose to write about her mom.

"Part one was before the addiction. Things that happened to my mom that I thought contributed to her addiction, part two was during the addiction, and part three was going to be after the addiction," said Newby. Unfortunately, part three hasn’t happened yet.

"Maybe a quarter of the poems in that book I had already written. So, you know, I have been writing about it so that is what I do to get it off my mind, I don’t really talk anyone about it, I write about it," said Newby.

She says the process was therapeutic, and one that makes her family proud.

"I think it is wonderful. She did a really good job. I’m very proud of her. I don’t know she worked really hard," said her stepmom Christine Atwood.

As Newby throws horseshoes in her Danville yard, she says that she never intended to get her book published. She simply wanted to share her story with other kids.

"I thought it was important for other kids to know that there are kids who go through these kinds of things instead of having to talk to someone who is just qualified to talk to them," said Newby.

But, with the help of a couple of generous friends in the community, the dream will become a reality inspired by a mom who’s not around to share in her daughters success.

"She knows about the book. I told her she is not going to get one until she gets sober. But she knows about it," said Newby.

Several copies have already been pre-printed, but Newby says she hopes to get the book officially published by Mother’s Day.

High School Senior Writes Book About Mother’s Heroin Addiction is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Tom Balmforth of the Moscow News writes that more than 90 percent of the world’s heroin comes from Afghanistan, and the drug then floods into Russia across Central Asia’s borders. President Dmitry Medvedev has called the drug trade from Afghanistan “a threat to national security.”

With an estimated 2.5 million Russian addicts, heroin has created a “lost generation” here, Federal Drug Control Service chief Viktor Ivanov said last week. The UN findings prompted discussion of several new anti-narcotics bills in the Moscow City Duma and the Federation Council, but many remain skeptical that the bills will go through.

An estimated 30,000 Russians die from heroin overdoses each year. Given Russia’s demographic crisis, this has serious implications for the country’s economy, since the victims are mostly of working age.

A demographic report by the United Nations Development Programme earlier this month suggested that by 2025, Russia’s population will have dropped below 140 million, and could fall to as low as 128 million. Although the report cited alcohol abuse and a low birth rate as major factors, Russia’s HIV/AIDS epidemic “due to the high levels of drug addiction” was also cited as a contributing factor.

“The main point is that too many drug addicts are victimized in Russia. They don’t have the means to get treatment and rehabilitate themselves, because state programs and money are practically non-existent. So it’s very difficult for a person to give up,” said Sergei Polyatykin, head of the No to Alcohol and Drugs Programme Fund.

The Federation Council proposed that teenage addicts be legally required to follow anti-addiction courses until the age of 18 (up from 16). The rationale is that “doctors and teachers believe that ages 16 to 18 are the most dangerous for developing a dependency on harmful drugs,” Federation Council Senator Lyudmila Narusova told Kommersant.

But Polyatykin said, “Up until 18, it’s not about treatment, but rather about providing people with a social purpose for a sober way of life, skills, alternative behavioural stereotypes and the ability to live without drugs.”

Other anti-narcotics proposals submitted to the City Duma by the capital’s police force included making healthy lifestyle advertising at nightclubs mandatory, and introducing regular drug testing for nightclub staff. Increasing public awareness is clearly important, but testing is unfeasible. “Testing staff for drugs would simply be illegal,” anti-narcotics campaigner Lev Levinson told Kommersant.
Reducing heroin addiction, however, also requires reducing supply. Narcotics traffickers are able to take advantage of rampant border corruption. Ivanov recently highlighted the lack of effective border control as a major problem, but also blamed NATO forces for doing “next to nothing” to halt drug production.

The spike in heroin production in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion in 2001 has been a major source of tension between Moscow and Washington. While eradicating opium fields deprives Taliban forces of funding for their insurgency, it also drives local farmers toward the Taliban, since it deprives them of their main source of livelihood.

Washington said in August that it would be targeting Afghan drug lords, rather than poppy eradication. But it remains to be seen whether this will reduce the flow of heroin into Russia.

One in Three People Killed by Heroin are Russian is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

CNN reports that in a squalid ruin in Kabul, heroin addicts can get hits for less than $4. The government estimates that as many as 5 percent of the 25 million people in Afghanistan could be addicts.

Although some efforts are being made to tackle the problem, funding shortfalls have prompted the United Nations to warn that drug use will escalate, potentially creating an HIV/AIDS crisis as addicts move from smoking drugs to sharing needles.

The last United Nations survey of Afghanistan’s drug problem four years ago estimated the country’s addicts to number about 200,000. According to Afghan Counter Narcotics Minister Khodaidad, the figure is now far greater. "More than 1.2 million people in Afghanistan are addicts. It’s a very huge number and every year it increases," he told CNN.

Khodaidad says the Afghan government is largely powerless to control the production of opium while Taliban extremists, who now control and draw funding from drug crops, control cultivation areas despite major international military efforts to push them back.

"We did very little due to weakness of governors, due to insurgents, due to pressure of terrorism in the area," he added. "We don’t have sufficient law enforcement agencies—the police, the border security force, and other special forces to control this area—so it will take time."

Jean-Luc Lemahieu, head of the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Kabul, says time is something Afghanistan does not have. As intravenous drug use takes hold, raising the prospect of needle sharing, he says HIV/AIDS will follow quickly.

"The little data we have at the moment are very alarming," he told CNN. "They tell us that we should not wait longer and if not, this country will be saddled with another burden it just cannot afford. I think it is already happening today. We have seen, now, a few HIV/AIDS cases. Hopefully we can contain the problem, although it is unlikely given the problems with the health structures."

Drug Addiction in Afghanistan Could Lead to AIDS Epidemic is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

"One friend would do it. They would pass it on. It would just get bigger and bigger. Now the monster is out of control," Piirainen said. "They always chose the drug over friendship and family. They didn’t care."

Heroin use in northern Nevada is climbing at an alarming rate, but the Regional Street Enforcement Team says the situation is even more concerning because more and more young people are turning to the drug.

"We used to see a heroin addict be a 30- or 40-year-old person who has been using for a couple of years, and they inject it or IV-use heroin. But today, a lot more young people are using it," said Sgt. Mac Venzon of the Street Enforcement Team. Venzon says they are seeing people ages 17 to 20 "stuck in the heroin loop that they just can’t get out of."

The Street Enforcement Team has been recovering more and more heroin from the streets over the past couple of years. In 2006, they seized 6.4 grams. It climbed to 59.1 grams and 195 grams in 2007 and 2008, respectively.

The amount of heroin recovered has skyrocketed so far in 2009. The Street Enforcement Team seized 513.9 grams of heroin in the first half of this year alone, which is on pace for 2009 to have more than a 400 percent increase from 2008.

Data also shows the number of arrests for heroin charges in Washoe County is rising. Arrests doubled from 19 in 2007 to 46 in 2008. 56 heroin arrests are in books through the first half of 2009.

The Street Enforcement Team believes there is a link between prescription drug abuse and heroin. Heroin and many painkillers are opiate-based drugs, so once a user becomes addicted to the prescription drug, the "turn to heroin is not that far away,” Venzon said.

Venzon says the street price of heroin can actually be cheaper than buying pills. A small balloon of heroin goes for about $10, according to Venzon.

Piirainen says the problem is spiraling out of control. "Don’t think you can try it once and not do it again. It’s not even worth it," he said.
 

Nevada’s Youth Turning to Heroin is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

When you are in the grip of heroin, it seems like you’ll never be free of it. Heroin addiction is one of the most difficult drugs to overcome, it’s true, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. You do need to be prepared for a long haul. And you do need courage and conviction.

What Happens in the Body With Heroin Addiction

Just why it’s so hard to overcome heroin is easy to see when you look at what the drug does to your body. Over time, your nervous system has adapted to accommodate chronic use of the drug. When heroin first infiltrates your body, your brain’s natural chemistry reacts with heroin’s toxins to create the feeling of heroin euphoria. Other effects include a feeling of heaviness and inability to move, dizziness, nausea, change in skin temperature. You feel tired, and the world seems to no longer exist around you. In effect, you are incapable of functioning either mentally or physically.

Heroin also damages the central nervous system, and may also cause short- and long-term harm to the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Many users overdose and die from the drug’s toxic effects, while others suffer severe and permanent damage.

A University of California study of 581 male heroin addicts monitored over 30 years (1964 to 1994) found alarming results. After 30 years, more than half (284) of the original participants, had died. Causes of the deaths: 22 percent died from overdose, 15 percent of chronic liver disease, and 20 percent from suicide or homicide. Of the remaining 43 percent of the deaths, the causes were AIDS, cancer or cardiovascular diseases. What about the 297 addicts still alive after 30 years? The sad truth is that 43 percent of them were still using heroin.

You’ve Made the Decision to Enter Detox – Now What?

Just by entering detox you’ve made a powerful first step. You may have finally hit bottom, due to a combination of physical and emotional consequences of the effects of heroin. Perhaps you had an intervention and that’s why you arrived at detox. The point is that you’re here. Now what?

Some of the immediate effects of detoxification from heroin are those you’re already quite familiar with. Every time your high wore off and you didn’t get your fix right away, your body started to feel some of the withdrawal symptoms. You may have even tried to quit cold turkey – not a good idea, as you well know if you’ve tried it.

Physical withdrawal symptoms include: a 3- to 5-day period of intense anxiety, insomnia, flu-like symptoms, cramps, chills, sweating, diarrhea and goose bumps. Muscles start to tighten and twitch, leading to involuntary spasms or kicking. Psychological cravings for the drug become almost unbearable, impossible to fight. Peak withdrawal symptom severity occurs about 24 hours after termination of the drug, and can last a week or more. Without medication to manage the withdrawal symptoms, the pain can be excruciating. But unless other medical problems exist, detox itself is not life-threatening.

Detoxification under medical supervision alleviates the discomfort of heroin withdrawal, managed by administration of medication – if the patient chooses this method. Using medication, the effects can be minimized or even prevented. Drugs used include methadone, clonidine and buprenorphine drugs like Subutex or Suboxone.

Rapid Detox Using Anesthesia Not Recommended

Among the many methods for detoxification that have been proposed or used, rapid detox using anesthesia sounds like a great idea. You’re given an anesthetic, and when you wake up, you’re clean of heroin. That’s not necessarily true. In a study conducted by psychiatrists at the Columbia University Medical Center and New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia found that detoxification under general anesthesia is unsafe and ineffective. The procedure can lead to risk of death, seizure and increased stress. Separate studies found other risks, including delirium, attempted suicide, abnormal heart rhythm, and kidney failure.

Detoxification with buprenorphine, while slower than with anesthesia, is less expensive and more effective.

Bottom line: there’s no single, magic pill or treatment that will erase years of chronic heroin abuse overnight. Medically-supervised detoxification, weaning your body safely off the drug, is absolutely necessary.

But detox is only the start of your recovery.

After Detox

The most important factor in determining your overall chances of a successful recovery occurs after the drug has been purged from your system. In fact, drug rehab following detox from heroin can last from 3 to 6 months in a residential program. Your therapy will consist of a number of personalized treatment methods, including individual psychotherapy, group counseling sessions, fitness and nutrition, dialectical training therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), family treatment, alternative therapies, relapse prevention and more. Life-affirming activities include yoga, acupuncture and exercise.

During rehab, you will learn to identify, analyze and understand the triggers that promote drug use and learn new ways of thinking and acting that do not involve drugs. You will also learn new coping skills to deal with stress. You will have the support of individuals trained to help you, and they will deal with you as an individual, basing your treatment on your needs.

Following your drug rehab treatment program, you will be encouraged to continue receiving support and help through continuing counseling, perhaps in outpatient treatment, and to attend recovery support groups such as Narcotics Anonymous. You need to build a new life away from the people and situations that were associated with your drug abuse. By continuing your counseling after you leave drug rehab, you will further strengthen your skills in better understanding and dealing with the underlying issues that caused you to find heroin so attractive in the first place. You now know that heroin is a dead-end path. You’ve chosen to follow a new route, to chart a new life, one that, prior to entering detox and drug rehab, you couldn’t even begin to imagine.

Yes, recovery from heroin addiction is a long road. But it is one that is well worth traveling to arrive at the future you want for yourself: clean and drug-free.

Heroin Addiction: The Long Road Home is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment