Eric Lemus

ENGL101

Fighting Heroin Abuse

As a law enforcement administrator, heroin use should be acknowledged as an addictive and

dangerous drug in society and heroin should be targeted by the law enforcement and justice system. I

strongly agree with these actions because heroin is not a harmless drug, it affects people socially,

financially, and society as a whole. Not only that, but we should also rehabilitate addicts for them to

come back and benefit society.

Heroine affects people negatively in many ways, such as their social lives. People who are

addicted to opioids like heroin are more likely in the future to experience broken marriages, lost of

friendships, and domestic violence. People addicted are also likely to lose reliability and

trustworthiness to their loved ones; for heroin has the ability to cause mood changes and evoke

dangerous behaviors. These side effects could both emotionally and physically harm those closest to

them.(Luxury.rehabs.com, 2017) Injecting heroin into the body with shared items such as needles puts

the user in danger of contracting diseases, such as HIV and hepatitis B and C, that could be given to

others sexually: meaning that you place your sexual partner at risk of receiving these illnesses.

(Luxury.rehabs.com, 2017)

Heroine also affects users economically, for day to day drug purchases will eventually become

unsustainable because of the human bodys tolerance. As the tolerance increases, the body becomes

more resistant to the effects of heroin; causing the user to become financially unstable because they

need more and more heroin to feel the same effect. Any savings could potentially run out and might not

even quench the thirst of their craving. This eventually could lead the addict to resort to theft or other

illegal activities in order to pay for their drug abuse. (Luxury.rehabs.com, 2017) Since most employers

test for drug use, heroin use can also affect the users employment opportunities. Even if there arent

any drug tests, heroin also impairs the user's performance at work - like increased absences, late
arrivals to work, and lack of productivity - that could even put him or her at risk of losing their job.

(Luxury.rehabs.com, 2017)

Heroin not only affects the users own life, but having an immense amount of drug addicts

affects society as a whole. Because of the enormous amount of addicts spread throughout, society has

to pay to fix the problems addicts make, like medical costs and child welfare. Most heroin abusers take

in heroin though injection, which risks them getting transmitted diseases; these diseases could also

spread around society sexually, increasing costs in medications for people contracting these illnesses.

Because drug users primary focus is heroin, they often ignore their own children, even leading to

abuse. This eventually causes the child to be relocated to a suitable family by the government: constant

relocations for children because of their parents incompetence to support them overtime becomes

costly to society. (Luxury.rehabs.com, 2017)

Even when fighting against heroin abuse, we must help heroin addicts overcome their

addictions in order to both lower overdose death rates relating to heroin abuse and successfully

reintegrate addicts back into society. To do this, we should incorporate the following ideas to society.

We could allow certain doctors to prescribe heroin. This idea would give doctors the ability to

prescribe small dosages to heroin addicts that have chronic dependency. Time magazine states in one of

its articles, The Canadian government approved new drug regulations allowing doctors access to a

pharmaceutical-grade heroin that could be given to addicts when traditional options have been tried

and proven ineffective.(TIME, 2017) There isnt enough results to prove that this method helps all

people completely overcome addiction, but it does help some people to not take in heroin in large

doses; preventing the risk of overdosage. People opposed to this idea say, The government is not only

endorsing the use of an illegal drug but doing nothing to help people actually break their

addiction.(TIME, 2017) What this means is that people believe this method doesnt actually help

people break their addiction. Instead, it seems as if we are supporting the use of heroin.

We could also allow anyone access to naloxone, which is a medication that blocks the effects of
a heroin overdose. This nasal spray has only been used by emergency responders attempting to revive

heroin users dying from an overdose. With naloxone being available to the public, this will

significantly lower and potentially stop deaths coming from heroin overdose. Unfortunately, this idea

has some cons. Some say, The widespread use of naloxone encourages drug use and doesnt address

addiction itself. (TIME, 2017) Opposing opponents disapprove this idea because this actually

encourages people to take heroin because of the medication given in case of an emergency. This

method only targets to reduce the death rates of overdoses from heroin usage, not the actually addiction

itself.

The idea that I recommend the most is to not arrest addicts, but instead, treat them. Instead of

placing non-violent drug offenders in jail, we should force them to undergo treatment. Police

departments in Huntington, West Virginia, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Seattle, and Massachusetts have

supported heroin addicts for heroin addicts to come to them for guidance and help as part of a program

called Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion.(TIME, 2017) Thisll help heroin addicts feel like they

have to support to stop and itll motivate them to stop depending on opioids. People who oppose this

idea say that instead of focus on the addicts, police should focus on the sources of heroin, like cracking

down on drug dealers and finding and stopping the drug supplies that are coming into the cites.

There are still so many more reasons why heroin abuse is an issue in society, from families

having domestic problems to people losing their jobs and resorting to crimes. For this very reason we

should help heroin addicts overcome their addictions and be accepted back into society. This aspect of

enforcement is most important to our vision of a Utopian society because I believe that instead of

demeaning abusers and treating them like criminals, we should recognize the problems they face and

support them through rehabilitation.

 Works Cited

"Social Impact of Heroin." Luxury.Rehabs.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.

1. The Social Impact of Drug Abuse. (1995). UNDCP.

2. Mark, T., Woody, G., Juday, T., Kleber, H. (2001). The economic costs of heroin addiction in the United

States. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 61(2), 195-206.

"Heroin Epidemic: 6 Ways to Prevent Overdoses." Time. Time, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.