Heroin, formerly known as a drug only seen in urban epicenters has made it’s way into the suburbs and rural sprawls of America. Just a few short decades ago the drug of choice was prescription pills throughout suburbia. They were easy to attain, legal to consume so long as prescribed to the user, and doctors prescription pads had become easy to tamper with. Once the government made it harder for doctors to prescribe opiates and other pain killers, those addicted had to look for a cheaper high that would be easier to get their hands on while mimicking the feeling that prescription opiates gave them. Heroin is where they found that solution.
Across the Northeast and Ohio specifically, Narcotics Anonymous has now outgrown Alcoholics Anonymous. States such as New York, Vermont, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Rhode Island among others in the region now report that Narcotics Anonymous has out grown AA in membership for recovering addicts. Many Ohio lawmakers are looking to declare the heroin epidemic in 2014 a public health crisis. In Cuyahoga County alone, they have released death statistics of 160 people between the start of the year and October. To help combat this alarming rate of heroin use in their state, Ohio lawmakers have come up with a bipartisan plan to implement the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2014. This legislation aims to educate teens and their parents on the dangers of the drug and it’s ravishing effects on the health of users. The act takes steps to encourage creative and innovative rehabilitation programs and treatment centers. This is a revolutionary step towards the state taking a bold move in treatment and prevention of heroin use instead of relying on the federal government to implement treatment solutions in response to the epidemic.
Please check back next week for more on the heroin epidemic sweeping across the Northeast region and how state governments are responding to this devastating public health crisis.
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