Since the early 1960's, opiates have become a serious problem for individuals with substance addictions. This paper will focus on the problems that people with heroin addiction face and the unmet needs of these substance abusers. This paper will also give a description of programs that are helping to meet the needs of this growing population of abusers and describe which of these programs are being successful and which are failing in this overwhelming battle of heroin abuse.
Heroin Abusers.
An estimated 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain. Pain causes stress and suppresses the immune system, which makes medical problems worse. The use of opiates to manage pain has increased. Unfortunately, along with the rise in opiate prescriptions is the increase in abuse (Woods, 2014). Most heroin addicts began their addiction due to being prescribed an opiate at one point and abusing them. During the 1960s, heroin use increased so dramatically that the media began talking about the "heroin epidemic" (Bazell, 1973). Recent surveys show that heroin use continues at an alarming rate. Although it is difficult to gather precise data, the considered opinion among experts is that there are more than a million heroin addicts in the United States (Davison & Neale, 1996). .
Although there may be many more because most heroin addicts do not want to admit that they are using or that they are addicted. Once addicted, the individual must continue to use the drug if they want to avoid any painful withdrawal symptoms. Because the addiction is both psychologically and physiologically in nature, heroin addicts feel physically ill if they don't receive the heroin, and larger doses are needed each time to achieve the same effect. Drug addiction is then likely to become a way of life, with most of the time spent getting the money to feed the addiction. The addict often turns to illegal ways of obtaining money, but reports of addicts turning to violence are greatly exaggerated.
