Heroin

Running Head : Treatment for Heroin Addiction

Treatment for Heroin Addiction

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Introduction

It is a known fact that there exist a variety of illegal drugs being peddled in the streets of United States right now . There are marijuana cocaine , crack and particularly heroin . According to study there are an estimated 2 .1 million sometime ' users of heroin in United States Among this number approximately 208 ,000 are habitual users ( Statistics ' n .d . Meanwhile the population of past-month heroin users almost tripled from 68 ,000

in 1993 to about 208 ,000 in 1999 Furthermore , the 1999 study by National Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA posted that there were 149 ,000 new heroin users in the years 1998 . A portion of this number , about 80 were under the age of 26 ( Statistics ' n .d

Nevertheless , there are efforts and studies being made by psychologists and government agencies on how to get back from the fold of having a normal life these heroin addicts . It is a common knowledge that heroin addiction can cause havoc to ones family . This excluding the fact that ingestion of this illicit drug is done intravenously thus the user is prone to HIV infection and other related diseases . This factor as a result in intravenous drug users (IVDUs ) accounted for one third of all diagnosed AIDS cases according to the Community Epidemiology Work Group (1998 as cited in Downey , Helmus , and Schuster , 2000

Opiate addiction is considered as a significant health problem in America . A survey conducted by the U .S . Department of Health and Human Services (1997 as cited in Downey , Helmus , and Schuster , 2000 ) found out that there are about 2 .4 Americans who have tried heroin . The illicit use of heroin is associated with increased mortality and criminal behavior (Kokkevi et al , 1993 as cited in Downey , Helmus , and Schuster 2000

Before combating the addiction of these junkies to heroin , first and foremost there should be basic knowledge of what does heroin is really like . In other words , there must be educated information that people who want to help these drug dependents should have . Unknown to many people heroin is the brand name ' of diacetylmorphine HCL , chemical that is very close to morphine . Surprisingly , heroin has no effect per se to the body but only act as a transport for morphine and particularly codeine (Moraes , 2000 . Basically the major effect of this drugs is a feeling of pleasurable attitude and relaxation (Louria , 1968

Many psychologists who are trying to understand the psyche of morphine addicts or junkies states that before one becomes a heroin addict he first passes through a gateway ' of illicit drugs like marijuana . When one is through with marijuana then one proceeds to another illicit drug particularly heroin , to become an addict . Yet , this issue is still being debated heatedly by great passion by researchers and scientists

Nevertheless , the main problem that psychologists are busy nowadays is the search for the right and appropriate method in treating heroin...