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How Serious a Problem Is Heroin Addiction?
“
Once a person becomes addicted to heroin, seeking
and using the drug becomes their primary purpose in
life.
”
—National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA),
Heroin
, Research Report Series, 2014.
.
An agency of the National Institutes of Health, the NIDA seeks to end drug abuse
and addiction in the United States.
“
Each year there are hundreds of thousands of heroin
users in the United States. This number has remained
stable for decades.
”
—Carl L. Hart, “Heroin (Alone) Is Not the Problem,”
Huffington Post
, July 19, 2013.
.
Hart is a neuroscientist at Columbia University in New York City.
“
Heroin use and overdose deaths have increased in re-
cent years.
”
—Christopher M. Jones, “Heroin Use and Heroin Use Risk Behaviors Among Nonmedical Users of Prescription Opioid
Pain Relievers—United States, 2002–2004 and 2008–2010,”
Drug and Alcohol Dependence
, September 2013.
.
Jones, who holds a doctor of pharmacy degree and a master’s in public health, is
with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“
When heroin was introduced, it was believed not to be
addicting. Now we know, however, that the likelihood
of becoming addicted is twice as great for heroin as
for morphine.
”
—Raymond Goldberg,
Drugs Across the Spectrum
. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2014, p. 182.
Goldberg, who specializes in health- and drug-related topics, is dean of Health
Sciences at Vance-Granville Community College in North Carolina.
